Jan 5^th, the night before Congress was to meet to certify the election, Michael Flynn with credentials seemingly dripping with treason, gave an interview to radical conspiracy hack, Alex Jones and told Infowars.com viewers that Donald Trump – with certainty – would serve four more years. He didn’t say how but alluded to his nefarious dealings with unstable, war-torn countries – Afghanistan and Iraq.

We all know about the attempted insurrection the following day.

Even if America gets through the inauguration without violent incidents, we are not out of the “insurrectionist” woods. Let’s face it. Thousands of Americans assaulted the legislative side of our federal government and overran its chambers, many with the intent of kidnap or murder.

It was planned for two months. On the morning of the assault, the insurrectionist-in-chief gave them his call to violence and the terror started. There were probably conspirators in the Congress, the day before, providing dry-run familiarity tours in the halls of the Capitol and most likely, contributing support.

Probably the most outrageous behavior came after troops belatedly quelled the mob to clear the way for a quick resumption of the electoral college vote casting. Even then 127 Republicans voted to overturn the election of Joseph Biden.

A few months before, 74 million people voted for the autocrat who for four years publicly signaled and demonstrated his intention to thwart democracy and its laws and try to rule by fiat. For four years, a thread of democracy’s infrastructure held together to resist his lawless persistence, but a whole political party gave him permission to ransack the nation.

Republican policy and actions have revealed solitary motives of partisan power, greed, and ruthless rule for at least a generation. Their corporate donors have had more than a partnership with Republicans, providing guidelines for policy, even having their lobbyists do the legislating and clearing the way for a media friendly to their agenda.

They have built this plutocracy and don’t want to lose it to the progressive policies that the Biden administration should pursue. Many corporations did stage a temporary halt to openly supporting the Trump administration, in light of Trump’s efforts to topple the results of a democratic election.

The National Association of Manufacturers, a trade group of 14,000 companies, actually called for Trump’s immediate removal from office after the mob assault on the Capital prodded on by Trump.

But the biggest and most powerful corporations had poured money into Donald Trump’s re-election campaign of 2020 in spite of his lawless tendencies, his many impeachable offenses, and his continual assaults on democracy. Before the election, even threats of not abiding by the results of the election did not stop their money spigot.

Let’s put this in perspective.

Many parallels exist between Trump and dictators of the past. The worst, in terms of carnage and destruction was Adolph Hitler. Hitler’s attempted insurrection came too early. In November 1923, his coup began with a rousing speech in a Munich beer hall with a large crowd of Bavarian sympathizers composed of political, military, and police leaders he tried to enlist to march on the democratic parliament in Berlin.

Trump’s relentless lie was that he won the presidential election of 2020, a buildup of some five years of lies supported by for-profit right-wing news and Republicans. Hitler’s main lie, capitalizing on economic hardship and the allied imposition of punishing reparations and disarmament, was saying Germany had not really lost World War I and had been betrayed.

Trump obviously has many sympathizers, many already serving in the Republican Party and more radicals newly elected to the party. Corporate money has flowed to Republicans in great amounts, donors demanding and getting huge tax breaks in the process. For four years Trump has not been held accountable for his many crimes.

Trump has set a tone and a practice of total unaccountability for himself and his supporters. The Department of Justice was nonexistent for offenses against non-whites. White supremacists seem to kill BLM supporters in his name and gain freedom awaiting trial. Police officers murdered black men with no DoJ investigation or consequences. BLM protesters, even anti-Trump protestors, are delt with tear gas and rubber bullets. White nationalists seemed coddled.

Similar coddling occurred for Adolf Hitler after his arrest for insurrection. We all know that Hitler was able to take control of German government as the numbers of his party elected to parliament increased, media rousing support.

There is little evidence that sympathy for Donald Trump will go away. In fact, Republican numbers actually increased in the House of Representatives in last November’s election while Trump was soundly defeated in urban areas. The lies from Fox News will continue.

In spite of how well the Biden administration performs this term, there are still Republicans who put their elections, the corporate agenda, and regaining power above a continuing democracy. Republicans and their media still sow demonization of government and non-whites.

Hitler’s agenda was white supremacy like Donald Trump’s and the Republican Party. It is not likely to go away, and Democrats are noted as somewhat complacent voters, especially during midterms.

Will we let the slim majority in the Senate and a slim majority in the House evaporate? Reforms are needed to bring back an egalitarian government and the changes in health care, wages, and income that entails. Republicans and corporations, which consistently value maximizing profits over all else, will fight change and try to elect Republicans.

Above all, Republicans are not friendly to democracy: voter suppression and purging. Ample experience shows that. But they have money and immense propaganda behind them.

Without reform and without vigilance, our democracy will continue to sink into the oblivion many other great nations have experienced in the past.

How far do appeasement and complacency go? Did it help lead to WWII?

Many think so.