Levka<p><a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/neoNazis" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>neoNazis</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/US" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>US</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/TrumpRegime" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>TrumpRegime</span></a> #<a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/MAGAts" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>MAGAts</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/denazifiction" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>denazifiction</span></a> <a href="https://kolektiva.social/tags/Germany" class="mention hashtag" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#<span>Germany</span></a></p><p>"Germany had a complicated reckoning with its Nazi past — will post-Trump America face a similar reckoning?</p><p>Trump’s inner circle will remain loyal, but the rest of the country has a choice to make.</p><p>Eight decades ago, one of the most formidable challenges for postwar Germany was what to do about the millions of Germans who remained diehard loyalists of Adolf Hitler. With a third of Americans seemingly in hypnotic thrall to Donald Trump, we face a similar reckoning.</p><p>If you had asked a middle-aged German in 1950 what they thought of Hitler, you’d likely have heard: The American occupiers’ denazification policies are making us victims for a second time; I didn’t do anything bad during the war; and Hitler actually did some good things for the country.</p><p>What if, five years from now, someone asks a diehard Trump supporter what they think of him today? The answer will depend on what happens in America over the next five years. Will democracy prevail over Trump’s autocratic ambitions? If it does, will his supporters regret throwing in their lot with him? If, on the other hand, democracy dies, will they reflect at all on what was lost?</p><p>Six months ago, questions like these might have sounded unnecessarily dire. That’s because most Americans didn’t believe Trump would act so quickly and aggressively to dismantle the nation’s democratic pillars — despite the very clear signs, and his own pronouncements, that this was his plan.</p><p>So now, here we are. The deep divide separating Americans is a national crisis that goes beyond ideology. The core of the problem is this — a large slice of America believes in making decisions based on proven facts, while another large slice believes whatever Trump tells them, even when he is obviously lying and acting against their own interests.</p><p>Are there any signs that we can come together as a country, that sanity can return to politics, and that together we can save democracy? To understand what may lie ahead, it’s worth examining how postwar Germany grappled with its own authoritarian legacy.</p><p>Hitler worship did not die with his suicide; it merely receded into the shadows."</p><p><a href="https://forward.com/opinion/762004/will-america-after-trump-be-like-germany-after-hitler/" rel="nofollow noopener" translate="no" target="_blank"><span class="invisible">https://</span><span class="ellipsis">forward.com/opinion/762004/wil</span><span class="invisible">l-america-after-trump-be-like-germany-after-hitler/</span></a></p>