What’s the difference between:
1. An Adolph Hitler who was so
mesmerizing to thousands of his apparatchiks and millions of his countrymen, he
could convince them he was doing the right thing even as the Third Rich was
being bombed into oblivion by the allies, and
2. A Donald Trump who was so hypnotizing
to thousands of his apparatchiks and millions of his countrymen, he convinced
them that the election he won was stolen from him, and that the event of
January 6, 2021 at the Capitol was a peaceful celebration of his victory?
There
is no difference between the two but for the reality that the word
“mesmerizing” is used in the first instance, whereas its synonym, “hypnotizing”
is used in the second instance. As to how a leader can find himself in a
situation such as that, much has been said and written about Hitler’s rise to
power. These are accounts describing the effectiveness of a propaganda campaign
devised by Joseph Goebbels in the age of the cinematic film and the radio.
But
what about Donald Trump? How did he find himself in a situation he continues to
enjoy even after his electoral defeat? It will be a long time before this
question can be answered. But what we can do now, being the first drafters of
history, is record our observations, and let future historians assess their
validity as well as their utility in helping them draft the definitive history
of our time.
We
live in an age inundated with punditry and social media. Whereas Joseph
Goebbels could manage to do his work with one radio network, a handful of daily
publications and a few posters, it took a mob of pundits and millions of
twitting participants to elevate Donald Trump to a height that rivals Hitler’s.
As
to how either of the two got elevated to such heights — well, unlike the rulers
of ancient times, neither was called a God that must be worshipped by the
citizens. What the propaganda campaigns promoted, however, were the issues on
which each of the leaders promised to deliver. Both had a simple message to the
masses, that went like this: You deserve more than what you’re getting. You’ve
been robbed of what is rightfully yours. Stand with me, and I’ll return to you
what was taken from you.
This
says that a message associated with a person is what makes the person what it is.
A positive message will give the power of persuasion to that person. A negative
message — depending on how virulent it is — can besmirch the reputation of the
person, causing them great losses. What usually happens is that a person of
high profile gets to be promoted to a higher level by a group of pundits, and
attacked by another group. The throngs of social media follow suit, and take on
a life of their own eventually. Anything can happen after that.
So
the question to answer is this: How does it happen that someone is covered by
the media at all kinds of events, whether or not that someone had something to
do with those events? The answer is that it all begins when the most devious of
pundits, sets the tone in so doing. This gives ideas to other pundits, and
eventually the social media that goes viral with the thing. An example of this
kind is seen in the article that came under the title: “Violence is Abbas’ way
of distracting attention and seeking concessions from Biden,” written by
Jonathan Tobin, and published on May 10, 2021 in The New York Post.
The
real story that Tobin has seized upon to attack President Mahmoud Abbas of
Palestine, is one that has little to do with Abbas. It is a military confrontation
that was in the making between Israel and Hamas, the rulers of Gaza. The latter
are rivals to Abbas and potentially his opponent in the next election. Abbas
does not see eye to eye with them on most issues. Thus, for Tobin to accuse him
of involvement in the disturbances that led to the military confrontation between
Hamas and Israel, is to do to the truth what Jeffrey Epstein did to underaged
girls.
Whereas
the media can be used to hypnotize the population and make it believe that
someone innocent is evil by attributing to him the sins of others thus destroy him,
the converse can also be done by attributing to someone evil the virtues of
others. That is, the media can be used to promote someone like Donald Trump and
make him appear larger than life. In fact, this is what Tobin and those like
him, have done over the years. It is how Donald Trump gained the intense love
and loyalty he did by the time he had left office — so much so that he
convinced his followers the election was stolen, and they came to celebrate him
on January 6 at the Capitol.
For
something like this to happen, there was a well-organized group that’s
proficient in the use of the media, and that’s dedicated to a cause whose
accomplishment requires the hypnotic power of the media. Jonathan Tobin and the
mob of Jewish pundits associated with him, filled that bill.
They accomplished their deed by virtue of the fact they are Israelis at heart, masquerading as Americans. For this reason, they are the most dangerous kind of Fifth Columnists to infiltrate a sovereign nation. They are effective because they erode the nation from the inside while paid by their victims.