Things are bleak here. Apparently conservatives believe executive orders trump federal law and even the Constitution. Anyone in the federal government not deemed sufficiently loyal is bring fired.
I just started reading Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here" written in the 30s about a demagogue elected president who beomes a dictator. The patallels with Trump are chilling. For example, the Trump character is a powerful politician who is also head of a privarely raised militia. When the guy is arrested and charged with graft, his militia followers rise up and take control of the state capitol and office buildings while forcing the people who arrested him to leave the state. A successful January 6.
Trump will go down in history with the Joe McCarthys and Father Coughlins as a disgrace. But he'll do a lot of damage first. - Jim Heenehan
Excellent piece. During WW II, France was a nation at war with itself. Who among friends, family or neighbors were collaborators; who were the resistance; who were just trying to keep their heads down below the radar and feed their families?
When we first came to France in the 70s, WW II was still raw and memories fresh. We met people slightly older than us who had experienced the war at ground level. Here in Brittany, the Resistance was particularly strong. In the Battle for Brittany in '44, the Shelborne Resistance Line evacuated shot-down British airmen from Bonaparte Beach near the town of Plouha, just a half hour from our house. We were there a couple days ago. You can walk the Shelborne Trail from Plouha down to the beach in the steps of French Underground heros who led over 300 British aviators to boats offshore waiting to bring them back home.
I can't listen to Leonard Cohen's song "The Partisan" without feeling a strong emotion.
The parallels to the US today are still being written. Similar to France in WW II, America is currently at war with itself. I wonder who the "Partisans" of today will be. The Resistance is already forming among people I know. Will America come to its senses? The jury is out.
As my mother always recounted, it wasn't the Germans who denounced my grandparents, it was the French. I was just speaking with a friend of mine in France who said that 40% of the youth in France don't even know what the Shoah is. This is all how we now find ourselves coming full circle...
Thanks for the French history lesson Don. Inspiring, and sad at the same time. The parallels you suggest between Vichy France and the beginnings of the Trump policies here in the U.S. today are appreciated and unfortunately real. The federal courts here are just beginning to blunt some of Trump’s attempts to circumvent the law and the Constitution. Soon, I believe, some of those policies (like blanket pardons for all the Jan. 6 rioters) will turn more of the public against him. It will take some time but I think it will happen. Like George Foreman in his Zaire fight with Ali, Trump will eventually punch himself out.
The more I read about the French Résistance, the more amazed at the sheer bravery and perseverance that every day citizens of all ages displayed. They did so much for all the Allied spy services because they knew that Fascism was wrong. I can only hope that we American recognize what level of resistance will be needed to defeat our internal enemy.
That's good advice. But it's difficult to figure out where to put my effort. I wrote postcards and sent money during the campaign but that seems pitifully weak now to meet the current situation.
Except Coco Chanel. She got away with collaboration --- apparently due to Churchill's intervention??!!! I have often wondered if I lived at that time, would I have given up hope? To what degree would I have "collaborated"? After all, German occupation went on for FOUR years!! [mmm....or one U.S. presidential term. Maybe I could have survived:) Thank you for an encouraging history lesson!!
Things are bleak here. Apparently conservatives believe executive orders trump federal law and even the Constitution. Anyone in the federal government not deemed sufficiently loyal is bring fired.
I just started reading Sinclair Lewis' "It Can't Happen Here" written in the 30s about a demagogue elected president who beomes a dictator. The patallels with Trump are chilling. For example, the Trump character is a powerful politician who is also head of a privarely raised militia. When the guy is arrested and charged with graft, his militia followers rise up and take control of the state capitol and office buildings while forcing the people who arrested him to leave the state. A successful January 6.
Trump will go down in history with the Joe McCarthys and Father Coughlins as a disgrace. But he'll do a lot of damage first. - Jim Heenehan
Always wanted to read that book. I guess i need to track it down here, Jim.
Excellent piece. During WW II, France was a nation at war with itself. Who among friends, family or neighbors were collaborators; who were the resistance; who were just trying to keep their heads down below the radar and feed their families?
When we first came to France in the 70s, WW II was still raw and memories fresh. We met people slightly older than us who had experienced the war at ground level. Here in Brittany, the Resistance was particularly strong. In the Battle for Brittany in '44, the Shelborne Resistance Line evacuated shot-down British airmen from Bonaparte Beach near the town of Plouha, just a half hour from our house. We were there a couple days ago. You can walk the Shelborne Trail from Plouha down to the beach in the steps of French Underground heros who led over 300 British aviators to boats offshore waiting to bring them back home.
I can't listen to Leonard Cohen's song "The Partisan" without feeling a strong emotion.
The parallels to the US today are still being written. Similar to France in WW II, America is currently at war with itself. I wonder who the "Partisans" of today will be. The Resistance is already forming among people I know. Will America come to its senses? The jury is out.
As my mother always recounted, it wasn't the Germans who denounced my grandparents, it was the French. I was just speaking with a friend of mine in France who said that 40% of the youth in France don't even know what the Shoah is. This is all how we now find ourselves coming full circle...
Thanks for the French history lesson Don. Inspiring, and sad at the same time. The parallels you suggest between Vichy France and the beginnings of the Trump policies here in the U.S. today are appreciated and unfortunately real. The federal courts here are just beginning to blunt some of Trump’s attempts to circumvent the law and the Constitution. Soon, I believe, some of those policies (like blanket pardons for all the Jan. 6 rioters) will turn more of the public against him. It will take some time but I think it will happen. Like George Foreman in his Zaire fight with Ali, Trump will eventually punch himself out.
Andy
The more I read about the French Résistance, the more amazed at the sheer bravery and perseverance that every day citizens of all ages displayed. They did so much for all the Allied spy services because they knew that Fascism was wrong. I can only hope that we American recognize what level of resistance will be needed to defeat our internal enemy.
For encouragement, I'm currently reading "The Resistance" by Matthew Cobb. It's excellent. https://archive.org/details/resistancefrench0000cobb_t9y6/page/n5/mode/2up
I will come back to this column weekly for this reminder.
Thank you, Don. Informative and chilling. I have wondered these last few months how we may be called upon to offer resistance.
The biggest challenge, I think, is staying focused. Pick one thing.
That's good advice. But it's difficult to figure out where to put my effort. I wrote postcards and sent money during the campaign but that seems pitifully weak now to meet the current situation.
Except Coco Chanel. She got away with collaboration --- apparently due to Churchill's intervention??!!! I have often wondered if I lived at that time, would I have given up hope? To what degree would I have "collaborated"? After all, German occupation went on for FOUR years!! [mmm....or one U.S. presidential term. Maybe I could have survived:) Thank you for an encouraging history lesson!!
Thanks for the comment. And I, too, wonder how I would've managed.
I need to read more about the Battle for Brittany. Great info, Steve.
Thanks for the optimism, Andy. We can all use it.
Thanks for the suggestion.