On Tyranny

Though not mentioned by name, America’s president Donald Trump haunts the pages of this book. The author contends that Trump’s behaviors—open and repeated lying, ridiculing his opponents with disparaging nicknames, using a private security force, encouraging followers at rallies to remove dissenters, evading taxes, working with foreign leaders for personal benefit, etc.—resemble those used by recent tyrants such as Hitler, Stalin, and Putin to gain power. Trump’s actions represent, then, threats to American democracy and a push toward authoritarian rule. 

Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany in 1933, whereupon he engineers an emergency that seems to require him to enforce a general abrogation of civil liberties. His Nazi shock troops intimidate opposing parties into silence; he offers a plan to revive a mythical German greatness, a plan that requires civilians to follow him as absolute ruler. The results are disastrous for Germany. Hitler’s tactics anticipate those of other, more recent leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin and America’s President Trump. 

Alone among European leaders, Churchill resists the Nazi onslaught across Europe. His refusal to back down in the face of insuperable odds, and his persistent work to forge a coalition of British, American, and Russian forces, lead to victory in the Second World War.