Trump honoring the Jan 6 attackers comes right from Hitler’s playbook

Fascists are not original

This past Saturday night—just days before the 4^th anniversary of the Jan. 6 terrorist attack-- Donald Trump held an event at his exclusive county club to honor one of the lawyers whose election fraud lies helped fuel the insurrection.

That was a despicable event—but not expected. After all Trump has followed Adolph Hitler’s playbook after his own failed coup to honor and celebrate those who helped him with his treasonous plot. And if history is a guide, by the 5^th anniversary of Trump’s Jan 6 terrorist attack, we can expect Trump to have created a national day of remembrance to honor the sacrifice of the MAGA “patriots” who waged that deadly attack on our Capitol.

There is little originality when it comes to fascist tactics and propaganda. That is why what Trump has been doing to rewrite the Jan 6 attack as an “act of patriotism” was foretold to us by history—and Nazi history at that. In 1923, Hitler waged a coup known as the “Beer Hall Putsch” where he led several thousand of his supporters in an effort to violently overthrow Germany’s Weimar Republic. Among those who marched with Hitler included Hermann Göring, Heinrich Himmler, Rudolf Hess and others who would later serve in very visible positions in the Nazi regime.

Hitler’s plot led to a clash with the Munich police that left 14 Nazis and four police officers dead—and scores of both injured. Hitler was arrested and served less than one year in prison where he wrote “Mein Kampf” and plotted his return to power. After Hitler’s release from jail, he saw the benefit of celebrating the so called “martyrs” of the coup as a way to rally supporters. Hitler even utilized a flag from the attack that had been stained with the blood of his supporters—known as the “Blood flag” --as a powerful piece of propaganda at Nazi events.

Once Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, he honored those killed by the police in his coup attempt with an annual event known as “Reich Day of Mourning.” And the city square where the Hitler’s loyalists had clashed with police became a key memorial for the Nazi Party. It was only after World War II did the German Federal Republic dedicate a plaque memorializing the four police officers killed in defense of the Weimar Republic.

In the case of Trump-- after first attempting to claim Jan. 6 was carried out by Antifa—he embraced Hitler’s playbook of celebrating the Jan. 6 attackers, sensing that this would help him excite the MAGA base. Less than a year after Jan 6, Trump began to make his supporter Ashli Babbitt--who was killed by a police officer when she jumped into a secured area against the officer’s command--into a martyr for the MAGA cause. Trump—just ten months after the Jan 6 attack--recorded a personal message for the Babbit family declaring, “There was no reason Ashli should've lost her life that day.” He added, “We must all demand justice for Ashli and her family, so on this solemn occasion as we celebrate her life.” Afterwards, Babbitt’s mother shared in an online video how Trump had personally caller her and that, “He said he talks about Ashli and he thinks about Ashli and that he has her on his heart.” That of course overjoyed MAGA core supporters who had already been celebrating Babbitt.

From there, Trump leaned into honoring the attackers who brutally beat up police officers—injuring more than 140--with four officers committing suicide in the months that followed. Trump hailed the MAGA terrorists at his rallies as being “great patriots” and “hostages.”

In 2023, Trump welcomed a fundraiser for the Jan. 6 attackers at his country club where he slammed the prosecution of the attackers. He told the audience, “You have firemen, you have teachers, you have electricians, you have great people, and they’ve been made to pay a price.” He even personally donated money to the cause.

One of the most traitorous displays by Trump was his recording of a rendition of the national anthem with Jan 6 attackers who were in prison for savagely beating up police officers. This song titled, “Justice For All”—and produced by Trump’s pick to head the FBI, Kash Patel-- includes as singers, Ryan Nichols who pled guilty to assaulting law enforcement officers and was sentenced to more than five years in prison. Others singing include Shane Jenkins who was convicted of seven felonies, including assaulting law enforcement with a deadly weapon and was sentenced to seven years in prison.

And it’s this song that Trump kicked off many campaign rallies with an announcer asking the crowd to “please rise for the horribly and unfairly treated January 6 hostages,” followed by the song being played. This is no different than Hitler’s use of the “Blood Flag”—but in this case Trump is celebrating MAGA terrorists he knows were the tip of the violent spear who attacked the police in his name.

These are just some of those involved in the Jan 6 attack that Trump has vowed to pardon in the “first hour” of his term. That is a point he reiterated during the campaign—including specifically promising to pardon those who beat up police officers. While two-thirds of Americans oppose such pardons, nearly 70% of Trump supporters favor them because like Trump, they view those people who used violence to help Trump remain in power despite losing the 2020 election as “patriots.”

I noted earlier that it wasn’t until the post-World War II German government came to power that a plaque honoring the four police officers killed by the Nazis during Hitler’s coup was installed. Well in the case of the officers injured on Jan. 6 by MAGA terrorists, Congress approved in 2022--when Democrats controlled the House and Senate--a permanent plaque honoring officers who protected the Capitol that day. By law, that plaque was to be installed by March 2023.

But then the GOP took control of the House in January 2023 and guess what? No plaque has been installed despite it being constructed already. When the press has asked Speaker Mike Johnson why the delay, they get a runaround. But we know the reason: To Trump the police are the bad guys, the attackers are the heroes. Thus, the House GOP has blocked the plaque to make their “Fuhrer” happy.

All of this is why I can say that by next Jan. 6 we can very likely expect Trump to use the day to honor the “patriots” of his attempted coup. After all, that is exactly what Hitler did.

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