I spent some time last week reading Hitler’s speeches. It’s not that I think Der Fuhrer really has anything to add to the current conversation or that I have any affection for him or anything he stands for. I was just checking to see if what he said was as close as I thought it was to Donald Trump’s pronouncements. It was. 

In 1932 Germany was just over a decade away from a disastrous defeat and a humiliating surrender. Unemployment was at 30%. The people wanted someone to do something about it. Hitler and the National Socialist party said that they could. According to Hitler, the party grew from seven men to 13,000,000 in just over ten years. And, according to Hitler, his government was the first “in which people are being taught to realize that, of all the tasks which we have to face, the noblest and most sacred for mankind is that each racial species must preserve the purity of the blood which God has given it.” 

Soon it boiled down to an even simpler proposition: it was all the Jews’ fault.

The Jewish population of Germany at the time was less than .75% of the total. However, hating the Jews was easier than confronting the real problems that faced Germany. And all of that is what I thought of when I read about Donald Trump’s immigration speeches. 

To be clear: I am not comparing Trump to Hitler. I don’t think he wants to invade Czechoslovakia (even if it still existed). I don’t think he’s planning world domination. Frankly, I don’t think he’s thought that far ahead. What I am comparing is Hitler’s straw man to Trump’s, and the basic message: Vote for me because I hate the people you hate. 

Illegal immigration is a problem in the United States in that we need people to obey our laws. However, it’s not our largest problem, probably not in the top 10.

There are about 11 million illegal aliens in the United States, down from 12.2 million in 2007. That’s 3.5% of the population (down from 4% in 2007). About half of those are from Mexico, and their numbers have been declining. And, contrary to the usual argument, they are not flooding our schools. Only about 7% of the K-12 students have one or both parents here illegally. And 80% of those school children are native born, making them, according to the Constitution, American citizens. 

To me, a greater problem is that in fifty years we have gone from a country intent on putting a man on the moon to a country seemingly content with allowing our infrastructure to crumble. From a country where the middle class was growing because of universal education and livable salaries to a country where the gap between haves and have nots continues to widen and nearly 20% of our children live in poverty. We have become a country where we cannot take care of our mentally ill, and people die because of it. 

We do have some really big problems. I don't hear Trump or many of the other politicians talk about them. 

Donald Trump has been called a narcissistic, xenophobic misogynist. He probably is. But I don’t care. I don’t care what Donald Trump thinks or says. What I do care about are the number of people who accept his simplistic, sometimes unconstitutional answers to complex questions and applaud him for “saying things others are afraid to say.” 

I also care about the potential of a campaign built solely on killing straw men. They sometimes move to killing real people. One of the “unofficial” actions of the National Socialist Party is remembered as Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. Thugs wearing brown shirts felt called upon to attack the Jews and everything they owned.

We may have had a small preview of coming events when Trump speaks to crowds screaming “white power,” and when two thugs in Boston reference him when they try to explain why they had beaten a homeless Hispanic man. But almost as scary as the act itself was Donald Trump’s response to it: 

“I will say that people who are following me are very passionate. They love this country, and they want this country to be great again. They are passionate.”

It’s beyond frightening that we give public attention to someone whose idea of “loving this country” is simply trying to keep people out of it and whose idea of greatness is beating defenseless homeless people. We have much bigger, more important fish to fry. 

During my lifetime we have fought just wars, eradicated dread diseases, explored our galaxy, and invented many things, some of them useful. We were proud of who we were and what we accomplished rather than spending all of our effort on those we prefer to hate. 

Now, instead of reaching out, we are circling the wagons around an ever widening chasm, one that may well eventually envelope us all. Then all that’s left is to wonder how people will remember us.

There is, however, another way.

In 1932, when Germany was dealing with a multitude of problems and dealing with them by setting up and eventually knocking down a straw man, the US had its troubles, too. The stock market had crashed, banks had failed, and unemployment was nearly 24%. It had tripled in two years. 

The United States elected Franklin Delano Roosevelt president, and in his first inaugural address, he laid out his vision for creating a great nation: 

So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. In every dark hour of our national life a leadership of frankness and vigor has met with that understanding and support of the people themselves which is essential to victory. I am convinced that you will again give that support to leadership in these critical days. 

No straw men to kill. No finger pointing. Just a call to go forward and solve the really big problems that the nation faced. I’d vote for a politician like that today.