“A totalitarian dictatorship, by its very nature, works in great secrecy and knows how to preserve that secrecy from the prying eyes of outsiders.
William L. Shirer–The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich
William Shirer, the author of the “Rise and Fall of the Third Reich,” lived and worked in Germany during the first half of that dictatorship.
Mr. Shirer noted he would not have attempted to write a history of Nazi Germany had it not been for the capture of the secret archives of the German government and all its branches.
“It is quite remarkable how little those of us who were stationed in Germany during the Nazi time, journalists and diplomats, really knew of what was going on behind the façade of the Third Reich,” he wrote.
“A totalitarian dictatorship, by its very nature, works in great secrecy and knows how to preserve that secrecy from the prying eyes of outsiders.”
Whether Trump is the mastermind of his totalitarian impulses or other hands are guiding him, he has not been successful in hiding the depth of his depravity from the American people.
His lawlessness is well-documented by the Fifth Estate’s wall-to-wall coverage of his presidency, including books by individual journalists.
And the Select Committee hearings on the Jan 6th attack on the US States Capitol should have removed any reservations about Trump’s autocratic intent.
Yet, the media and the Biden administration view Trumpism as a redeemable aberration.
While Trump and his allies are working to corrupt all branches of government, for example, the Biden administration is reluctant to establish necessary safeguards out of appearing partisan.
Mr. Biden has allowed the Trump-appointed Department of Homeland Security watchdog to keep his post, even though he reportedly “shut down efforts to recover Secret Service text messages sought by the House January 6 select committee.”
Meanwhile, the mainstream media(Fox Trump State News excluded) is ineffective in covering Trump due to its “both sides” conventional philosophy. It’s an approach that treats Trump and his allies’ lies, distortions and undemocratic behavior differentially.
We saw this media approach with the FBI raid on Trump Mar-a-Lago property to recover classified material they suspected the former president of hiding there.
Instead of asking why it took months for the government to recover Trump’s illegal theft of classified and other presidential records, the media pressured Attorney General Merrick Garland to explain why he had to take such an aggressive stance against a former president.
That sort of coverage only benefits Trump and his cronies.
Mr. Garland bowed to the pressure and permitted the court to unseal the Mar-a-Lago search warrant.
The unsealed warrant suggested, among other revelations, that the justice department is investigating Trump’s “potential crimes associated with violations of the Espionage Act, which outlaws the unauthorized retention of national security information that could harm the United States or aid a foreign adversary.”
But Mr. Garland need not have explained why he conducted the raid. Unlike the Third Reich, most Americans know what’s going on behind the façade of Trumpism.
Will Mr. Garland carry out his legal obligation to indict a criminal ex-president, regardless of the political fallout?
That is what most Americans would like to know.