Hitler came into power with the support of many good citizens who were genuinely concerned about their country and its future. Catholics and other Christians were terrified at the prospect of a Communist takeover. They were also appalled at what they perceived as the collapse of moral values that seemed to permeate the entire fabric of the Weimar Republic.
Patriotic Germans were angry at the way the international elites were treating their nation. They felt betrayed by their leaders and wanted to punish those who made their country weak. Middle class Germans, eviscerated by runaway inflation and other economic forces seemingly beyond their control, were dismayed by the dysfunction of government and the failure of democracy to establish order and virtue.
Working class Germans, suffering unemployment, lack of meaningful employment opportunities, and a most uncertain future, wanted a stable economic system that considered their interests over the interests of bankers and money.
Although the situation in the United States today is not as dire or extreme as it was in Germany after WW I, many Americans nonetheless feel what these Germans felt and can tick off the same concerns listed above. Many have turned to Donald J. Trump—in spite of his deeply flawed behavior and character—as their savior and superhero to punish the guilty, fix the economy, remake the government, and save our Christian Western USA civilization.
Nursed on various forms of evangelical Christianity and saturated by the entertainment industry with superhero images, movies, cartoons and action video games in which the heroes fight the eternal war of good against evil, many Americans feel we are at the End Times, that we are in a life/death struggle with evil which requires us to discern and follow a champion who has the power and know how to defeat evil.
Trump, not the real person Donald J. Trump, but Trump the media event has been identified as the superhero person to lead the faithful in this epochal struggle.
Christian iconography paints Trump as a Cyrus destined to free the faithful from unjust rulers. Secular media iconography draws Trump as Superman prepared to punish the corrupt, immoral leaders of our society. At Trump rallies, T-shirts are sold of Trump in these iconic comic book images.
For too long a time, our body politic has been experiencing the dysfunction of our major political institutions. This profound sense of betrayal by our basic institutions and the burden of being a free agent in a free society drives many people to opt for an authority to which they can fully commit themselves, an authority which can create the law and order that the breakdown of civil society, including the breakdown of the family and individual civic virtue, has destroyed.
Revivalism in the United States is a well-studied quality of our culture. We Americans delight in being saved: we revel in its enthusiasm, its intense feelings of community and purpose, and its well-spring of hope. The Icon of Trump as savior fits this cyclic pattern. The profound loss of trust in our basic institutions calls into question the very heart of our civilization and opens the opportunity for apocalyptic visions of the world to help people understand, cope, find some degree of comfort and know what actions to take in the world.
Trump plays into this need to identify the leader and be part of a community that follows that leader. The dynamic between him and his followers releases great energy and personal involvement which provides a kind of addictive high. When Trump said he could commit murder in the middle of Fifth Avenue and get away with it, he spoke the truth, a rare event.
Trump embodies hope for many Americans, an apocalyptic vision of the triumph of good over evil through heroic action of a Savior and Superhero.
The myth of the Strongman Savior appeals to something very basic in our psyche and seems to be sweeping through many nations and cultures as they face a fast changing world.
Of course, the real person Trump is nothing like any of these icons and makes a mockery of the strongman image.
It is to be hoped that the citizens of the United States of America will remember the devastation and catastrophe that Adolph Hitler brought down upon the German peoples.
It is to be hoped that the American people have the common sense and moral fortitude to reject a comic book character for their president.
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2024 © nicholas.patricca@gmail.com
Nick Patricca is professor emeritus at Loyola University Chicago, member of PEN San Miguel MX Chapter, member TOSOS Theatre Collective, NYC.