If there’s one lie that most angers me about Trump III, it’s this nonsense from the media that what Trump is doing is “unprecedented.”
The fact is American history is filled with monsters. There’s that whole Civil War kerfuffle, for instance…there’s the Iraq War, the Vietnam War, and Joe McCarthy. Do I have to mention Jim Crow and slavery, the genocide of native people, the internment of Japanese American citizens or the Chinese Exclusion Act? Those are things most American citizens approved of.
We’ve also had coups. The 2022 movie Amsterdam, for instance, is about a real coup attempt against Franklin Roosevelt. A clique of oligarchs trying to recruit marine hero Smedley Butler into seizing power.
These were real fascists. Pro-Nazi agitation continued in this country right up to Pearl Harbor. As Rachel Maddow wrote recently, the coup efforts didn’t stop, either.
Illegitimate Presidents
We’ve had four “second round” elections, the same two candidates as nominees. William Jennings Bryan lost to William McKinley twice, in 1896 and 1900. Grover Cleveland lost to Benjamin Harrison in 1888 but won in 1892. John Quincy Adams won in 1824 despite losing the electoral college, after the election was thrown into the House. (Jackson then trounced him four years later.) Adams’ father tried to criminalize free speech. That’s right. Founding Father John Adams tried to make criticizing his government a crime.
Have Presidents seized power illegitimately? Why yes. Rutherford B. Hayes “won” the 1876 election by stealing southern electors. In exchange, northern troops were pulled from southern states, enabling Jim Crow. The Reconstruction struggle continued but was eventually lost. Legally enforced segregation and the systematic denial of rights to black folks, was the law of the land for over 80 years. It’s making a comeback.
When fighting Donald Trump and Trumpism, don’t forget. There’s nothing new here. Every generation of Americans has had to struggle uphill, against great odds, to gain any of the promises of the Declaration of Independence. So shut up and let’s get back to work.
