December 9, 2023

Last night, I watched a documentary about the Gestapo.  It occurred to me that it used the same tactics as the bumbling joke that currently occupies the Bully Pulpit and his minions.  I did some research to substantiate my thoughts.

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History

The Geheime Staatspolizei, abbreviated Gestapo, was the official secret police of Nazi Germany.  It was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining various political police agencies of Prussia into one organization.  On April 20, 1934, oversight passed to Heinrich Himmler, the head of the Schutzstaffel (the SS, originally Hitler’s personal body guard), who was also appointed chief of German police by Hitler in 1936.

Tactics

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The Gestapo’s power focused upon Hitler’s political opponents through lies, atrocities, and reprisals.  It often made up facts against political opponents in order to achieve its objectives.  Those political opponents included people deemed dangerous to Nazi policies and politics.  They could arrest and imprison anyone and always assumed that their targets were guilty.  Once arrested, people found it difficult to prove their innocence.

The Gestapo crushed opposition through actions, both legal and illegal, such as fear and intimidation.  It operated without any civil or criminal restraints.  Propaganda, which included censoring the media, kept the majority of the population in line.

Sound familiar?

The Department of Justice

I begin with Attorney General Merrick Garland’s lie about DOJ investigators being nonpartisan.  He said, “Justice Department prosecutors are nonpartisan.  They don’t allow partisan considerations to play any role in their determinations.”  To Scott Pelley’s question, “And this is not peculiar to the Trump investigations?,” Garland responded, “This is the rule for all investigations.”

The DOJ today is increasingly motivated by partisanship.  The PATRIOT Act laws were designed to fight terrorism.  But they have been transformed into tools by which the DOJ keeps constant tabs on law-abiding Americans and threatens to disrupt their lives if they dare act contrary to Joe Biden.