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During last Thursday’s Impeachment hearings, Dr. Fiona Hill explained the rise of white nationalism, neo-Nazism and anti-Semitism in America under Donald Trump, as well as its connection to Russian interference in our domestic political affairs. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1197620586056495104?s=21
Trump and his close supporters (more on that below) are currently pushing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory about George Soros, a billionaire who has long been a favorite bogeyman on the right due to his support for progressive causes at home and political reforms abroad.
In her testimony, Dr. Hill stated, “This is the longest-running anti-Semitic trope that we have in history, and a trope against Mr. Soros was also created for political purposes, and this is the new Protocols of The Elders of Zion.” https://www.salon.com/2019/11/22/fiona-hill-lays-waste-to-the-george-soros-conspiracy-theory-at-the-heart-of-trumps-ukraine-defense/
What is a trope? I was able to better understand it by way of example.
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-trope.html
https://examples.yourdictionary.com/examples-of-trope.html
I had never heard of the Protocols of The Elders of Zion, but it is an 19th-century Russian forgery casting Jews as evil and all-controlling. It claims to be a genuine transcript of a gathering of wealthy Jews who conspired to bring about the enslavement of Western civilization.
The Protocols of The Elders of Zion has been the basis of pogroms (organized massacres of a particular ethnic group, in particular that of Jews in Russia or Eastern Europe) since 1904.
Beginning May 22, 1920, Henry Ford published “The International Jew: The World’s Problem” in the Dearborn Independent, a newspaper he owned. It appeared on the front page every week from 1920 to 1922 and was based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-resources/popular-topics/henry-ford-and-anti-semitism-a-complex-story
Despite conclusive proof that the Protocols were a gross forgery, they had sensational popularity and large sales in the 1920s and 1930s. They were translated into every language of Europe and sold widely in Arab lands, the US, and England.
But it was in Germany after World War I when promoters of The Protocols (seen in German below) had their greatest success. There they were used to explain all of the disasters that had befallen the country: the defeat in the war, the hunger, the destructive inflation.
The Protocols became a part of the Nazi propaganda effort to justify persecution of the Jews and Hitler used the Protocols as a manual in his war to exterminate the Jews. Hitler referred to The Protocols in his book Mein Kampf as seen below.
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-key-dates
https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-key-dates
Kristallnacht, was a pogrom against Jews carried out by The Nazi Party’s paramilitary forces and civilians throughout Nazi Germany in November 1938. Historians view Kristallnacht as a prelude to the Final Solution and the murder of six million Jews during the Holocaust.
Fast forward to the Unite the Right rally August 2017 in Charlottesville where neo-Nazis chanted “Jews will not replace us.” Trump did not denounce the marchers explicitly, instead condemning "hatred, bigotry, and violence on many sides". https://twitter.com/davebriggstv/status/1104051178223091712?s=20
Trump also referred to "very fine people on both sides", implying moral equivalence between the white supremacist marchers and those who protested against them. https://twitter.com/LocalPerspectv/status/1159723458684694528?s=20
David Duke, the former KKK grand wizard, was unambiguous about what the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, meant to him: It’s the fulfillment of President Donald Trump’s vision for America. https://twitter.com/talbertswan/status/896414377716453378?s=21
In 2014, David Duke repackaged and published an “illustrated” version of The Protocols, stating, "The Illustrated Protocols of Zion will probably make more impact than any previous book that I have ever written."
In recent years, we have seen a rise in the number of mass murders motivated by racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
On October 30th, 2019 FBI Director Christopher Wray stated, “The FBI assesses homegrown violent extremists are the greatest, most immediate terrorism threat to the homeland.” https://www.fbi.gov/news/testimony/global-terrorism-threats-to-the-homeland-103019
On August 6th, 2019, Tucker Carlson, co-founder of the conservative site "The Daily Caller" said white supremacy is “actually not a real problem in America” He called white supremacy "a hoax" and "a conspiracy theory used to divide the country" https://twitter.com/ndrew_lawrence/status/1158896220309512192?s=20
On November 14th, 2019 Republican lawyer Joseph diGenova, who is close with Trump (to say the least) accused Soros of controlling parts of the State Department and FBI and of using “every lever of the United States government” to take over Ukraine. https://twitter.com/EdwardTHardy/status/1194993391832055808?s=20
Last Wednesday, on the second day of open impeachment hearings, Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani claimed to Blaze TV host Glenn Beck that Soros is at the heart of the president’s efforts in Ukraine to investigate “corruption.” https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-lawyers-biden-digenova-toensing-ukraine-2019-9
Trump, the GOP, their allies and supporters have stuck to the Ukraine conspiracy, which is an attempt to deflect attention from Trump’s attempt to extort Ukrainian President Zelensky (the reason Trump is being impeached and explained briefly next).
According to multiple accounts by impeachment witness testimony and supported by documents, Trump ordered a hold on congressionally approved military aid to Ukraine - needed to combat Russian invasion - until Zelensky announced on CNN an investigation into Joe Biden & his son...
…AND the false claim that it was Ukraine, not Russia, that interfered and the US 2016 presidential election.
This abuse of power is impeachable in its own right, but it's actually worse than that.
This abuse of power is impeachable in its own right, but it's actually worse than that.
Yesterday, the New York Times reported that Vladimir Putin, a former KGB foreign intelligence officer for 16 years & current President of the Russian Federation began publicly pushing false theories of Ukrainian interference in the early months of 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/us/politics/ukraine-russia-interference.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
The same article also states that Trump had spoken with Mr. Putin about the false allegations of Ukrainian interference. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/22/us/politics/ukraine-russia-interference.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
Note, also in 2017, Roger Stone stated "George Soros has penetrated the Trump White House. Soros has planted a mole infiltrating the national security apparatus - a woman named Fiona Hill" https://twitter.com/Redragontamer/status/1198430642259812352?s=20
On November 15th, 2019 Stone, a longtime informal adviser to Trump was convicted in federal court of 7 felonies. Why?
Stone was found guilty of obstructing Congress’s Russia inquiry, lying to investigators under oath and trying to block the testimony of a witness whose account would have exposed his lies. This was Muller's last indictment before closing his investigation https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/15/us/politics/roger-stone-trial-guilty.html
But wait, there's more!
CNN reported yesterday that Devin Nunez (R-Ca), Republican Ranking Member of the House Intelligence Committee and member of the Trump transition team, met in Vienna in December 2018 with a corrupt former Ukrainian prosecutor to discuss digging up dirt on Joe Biden.
While leaving the impeachment hearings last week, in response to questions by CNN, Nunes stated "To be perfectly clear, I don't acknowledge any questions from you in this lifetime or the next lifetime. I don't acknowledge any question from you ever." https://twitter.com/VickyPJWard/status/1198060634690248707?s=20
This explains why 1) Nunes and the GOP spent the entire impeachment hearings pushing the Ukrainian conspiracy, as well as 2) the look of total shame and despair on Nunes’ face as Rep. Eric Swalwell called him out for the 2018 meeting in Ukraine. https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1197607345414660098?s=21
As the truth comes out, and the real threat of impeachment closes in on Trump, Trump and his allies have talked of a new American Civil War. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1178477539653771264?s=20
And Trump is whipping his base up into a frenzy, falsely claiming that impeachment is a coup. https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1179179573541511176?s=20
Prior to his death, Rep. Elijah Cummings begged the American people to pay attention to what is going on, in order to save our democracy. He's right. This is our watch. https://twitter.com/RepCummings/status/1154161356171599877?s=20
I can only hope the American people take this all very seriously and heed his warning.
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