Click here to animate the above GIF. If you want to share it copy the web address from your computer’s address bar or use this: https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/1ccdad2222701d942c5bbafa1742a07ea25cbc7ea3a9f54c0aca2ea38543a09b.gif

I can’t determine who made this GIF but it was also .posted here on Twitter in 2020 so I know this is at least three years old.

I found the image in a comment to this RawStory article: ‘Their existence will be crushed’: Trump spokesperson delivers ominous warning to critics, by Travis Getty.

If you follow progressive websites and watch MSNBC you know about the blowback against Trump and his fascistic comments delivered on Veteran’s Day:

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Trump said toward the end of his speech, repeating his false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. “They’ll do anything, whether legally or illegally, to destroy America and to destroy the American Dream.”

Trump went on further to state: “the threat from outside forces is far less sinister, dangerous and grave than the threat from within. Our threat is from within. Because if you have a capable, competent, smart, tough leader, Russia, China, North Korea, they’re not going to want to play with us.”

Washington Post: Trump calls political enemies ‘vermin,’ echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini

There are lots of images comparing Trump to Hitler and sometimes Mussolini.

This comment with the emoji gives me pause:

There are none so blind

as those that refuse to see.

What keeps me awake at night is knowing that there is a large group of Americans who aren’t blind to the fact that Trump wants to turn us into a fascist dictatorship. They admire Hitler. They desire this outcome.

Given the electoral college, gerrymandering, and whatever manipulations to a stop free and fair elections the Republicans pull, it is possible that while the less than half the country really wants us to become the Fourth Reich and while losing the popular vote – again – Trump could still become the next president.

Related column from Heather Digby Parton.

Excerpts:

If I had to guess, I would say that Trump didn’t come up with that word (vermin) himself. He’s more of a “rats” guy than a “vermin” guy when it comes to rhetoric. And the fact that he repeated the exact phrase from the teleprompter at a rally later in the day on Saturday indicates that it was a speech writer’s work not his own, although it certainly reflects his feelings on the matter. I suspect it was either written or inspired by his righthand fascist, Stephen Miller, featured heavily in yet another chilling article in the New York Times about the Trump agenda for his second term…. It’s clear that Trump and his henchmen are planning a Nazi-style administration and they aren’t trying to hide it. His campaign told the Times to speak to Miller who generously shared his agenda with the paper. They want people to know what they are plotting. This time no one should assume that it’s just hyperbole. As Miller told the Times, ‘bottom line President Trump will do whatever it takes.” Don’t doubt it. 

Read previous Stressline blogs here.