Trump Is Trying to Start WWIII

Can we stop him?

Editorial rights purchased from iStock. Photo by Zeferli.

I’ll be blunt. Trump does not need Greenland to protect America or to protect Greenland.

How do we know?

Because neither has been needed to protect the safety of Americans thus far or to protect the people of Greenland. We don’t need Greenland (or the Panama Canal, for that matter) to maintain our safety here in America — unless Trump plans to commit acts that will bring the wrath of the rest of the world upon us— which is exactly where he is headed.

This is why he has directed the Department of Defense to create a “Golden Dome” system, similar to the “Iron Dome” developed by Israel.

Trump is preparing for war

Trump has already attempted to declare war powers by insisting that immigrants from Venezuela have “invaded” America.

His insistence on ignoring the law and moving forward with deportations, despite a judge’s ruling ordering him to stop, is a predicate to declaring a real war. If you think I’m being hyperbolic, take a look at what preceded WWII when Hitler began his reign of terror and note the similarities.

Trump has followed this same pattern since he first rode down his infamous golden escalator to announce his candidacy for president. It’s as if Hitler handed Trump his playbook.

• First, a constant refrain of nationalism filled the air.

• Then a megalomaniac with Nazi tendencies and a psychopathic hatred of “the other” won an election.

• Next came the disenfranchisement of all “undesirables” and an effort to deport those not acceptable to the regime while simultaneously attempting to rewrite laws and destroy institutions that might provide any limitations on the new leader’s power.

• Meanwhile, constant lies were told to justify unprecedented human rights violations in the name of “saving the country.” (Actually, only unprecedented if we fail to remember the numerous other dictators who led their countries into needless wars.)

• Then, Hitler began to threaten other nations with invasion to expand his influence and create strategic outposts for military operations.

• Lastly, anyone who dared to criticize the regime was vilified, and any attempt to maintain a system capable of reigning in Hitler and his cult following was labeled as dangerous to the “agenda” of the goals of the regime.

Trump has already followed the path Hitler took in the lead-up to WWII. How can we expect his eventual destination to be different?

Trump needs a war to save the economy he is destroying

There is another reason Trump wants war. War will be the only way for Trump to escape the financial disruption he is causing now with his on-again, off-again tariff policies.

Consider the economic boon we will enjoy if we reinforce the military-industrial complex with contracts to enrich American arms manufacturers with ten times the financial investment we are now utilizing to support the war effort in Ukraine.

Trump has already labeled those willing to sacrifice for their country as fools. He will not hesitate to send troops to war if it benefits his financial interests.

Trump’s philosophy is simple: War is profitable; People are disposable.

Trump is already stirring up trouble in the Middle East

Let us also consider Trump’s recent threats toward Iran, his support of Netanyahu’s genocide, and his desire to take over Gaza. We need to be clear about where this is coming from; we need to be clear-eyed about who Trump is.

Trump is an ignorant man. He refuses to learn, believing that what’s in his head is all he needs to know. He lacks empathy and emotional intelligence. He can barely read. However, he understands how to wield power, and like any mafia boss, he instills a level of fear that makes it difficult for those around him to defy him. Some may even believe what Trump says. But most know better; they just don’t have the courage to say so.

We have already experienced one terrorist attack on our soil. While we like to pretend it was based on nothing but an abstract hatred of America and our “freedom,” we know better. It was based on the anger felt by those who see us as arrogant and aggressive. We have done bad things in other countries for the sake of our business interests, and when we misguidedly invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, we proved the terrorists’ point.

Do not think people outside our country will be afraid to attack us again. If we wage another world war, we may be fighting that war on our soil — with devastating consequences. We must stop pretending we are “exceptional.” We are not, and we will not survive this unscathed.

It may not be a full-scale war, but attacks on civilians by terrorists we cannot even identify will be rampant, and we will have no way of stopping them.

The stage has been set. The greatest minds in every institution that could protect us have been fired. We will be at the mercy of partisan hacks with little experience and even less brainpower. So, please ask yourself: Is this what you want?

How we stop the creep toward war

Fortunately, many are already doing what needs to be done, but we cannot let up the pressure on Congress to face facts and resist propaganda.

We need to make it clear, via protesting and voting out Republicans in the upcoming midterms, that we reject the agenda that is moving us toward an inevitable conflict. We need to call out Trump’s aggressive rhetoric for what it is — we cannot afford to simply cross our fingers and tell ourselves Trump doesn’t really mean what he says.

We must also loudly proclaim our dissatisfaction with members of Congress who are supporting Trump and his lawless administration. And we must maintain the pressure on Trump and his minions by constantly pointing out the stupidity of their actions, the blatant failures to manage our government effectively, and the absurdity of their arguments.

History only repeats itself if we fail to learn from it

In closing, I want to share a few salient quotes from a woman who was thrown out of Germany by Hitler for having the guts to call him out as a “small” man. This was long before World War II, when she was granted a personal interview with him. She was the only journalist who saw him for who he was — a man propped up by propaganda with very little to offer.

In the years following Hitler’s rise to power, Dorothy Thompson was a constant voice of reason — one of the few who not only predicted Hitler’s actions but who understood the importance of American intervention to save what was left of Europe.

I am struck by the relevance of her insights and the fact that, not unlike the propaganda surrounding Hitler, Trump’s persona has been so inflated by his reality TV persona that America has now made the same mistake the Germans made in the 1930s. We voted in a tyrant, and we are going to have to pay for that.

(All quotes are taken from American Cassandra: The Life of Dorothy Thompson, Peter Kurth, 1990. All were sourced directly from her writings or her public speaking engagements in the years before America’s involvement in WWII)

I think it is one of the most incredible stories in history. . . that a man could sit down and write in advance — as Hitler has done in Mein Kampf — exactly what he intended to do; and then, step by step, begin to put his plan into operation. And that the statesmen of the world should continue to say to themselves: ‘He doesn’t really mean it! It doesn’t make sense!’— p. 310

. . . the enemy of Fascism is not the masses, but the people — those ‘private persons,’ individually or in aggregate, who insist on calling their souls their own. The enemy of Fascism is reason. . . . Its enemy is humanism, which insists that personality is sacred and that man is capable of constant development. It’s enemies are all those manifestations of the human sprit which derive from profound personal experience — art, for instance, and thought. p. 239.

Political freedom is the condition of all freedom . . . as the people of Russia have learned, as the people of Italy have learned, as the people of Germany have learned. They gave up political freedom to get something else which they thought at the moment was very much more important, and then they found out that there is not anything more important. p. 230

The problem was that modern society was a materialist society . . . ‘the idea of self-realization, of self-development,’ had given way to ‘a totally amoral one: the idea of self-interest.’ Thus, ‘the idea of a society trying to be something’ had degenerated ‘into the ideal of all individuals trying to get something.’ p. 236–237.

And, finally:

In a contest between twenty per cent of organized madmen and eighty per cent of disorganized paralytics, the madmen will win. — p. 309

Right now, the madmen are winning. But if we organize, we can stop them. Do your part, no matter how small it may be. Even if all you do is insist on being yourself, unapologetically, that is something.

Resistance of any kind will help. But if you can also manage to write a letter, sign a petition, call your elected representatives, or march in protest — even better.

Let’s stop the madness before it’s too late. Inaction is not an option anymore. Democracy requires participation. Let us take our cue from the people who gave up freedom for something they thought was more important, only to discover that “there is not anything more important.”