Risky analogies


As my FB peeps know, I've been an avid consumer of history for the past 35 years. One reason is to understand how we got to where we are. Another reason is to look for historical parallels to current events to anticipate the future.
These days, there are frequent invocations of Nazi Germany in the discussion of Trumpistan and 6 January. I get their point, but going Godwin on the Trump GOP and MAGA overlooks the facts that (a) Germany had only been a single country beginning in the 1880s and had little experience with democracy, and (b) Germany had recently lost a major war followed by hyperinflation. None of those apply to 21st Century America.
I saw today where Juan Cole is drawing historical parallels between the right-wing GOP and 6 January and the events surrounding the overthrow of Mohammad Mosaddegh. While he certainly knows his 20th century Iranian history, the analogies are fraught here too. Mosaddegh was appointed prime minister by the Shah in a country that had only recently emerged from absolute monarchy.
All this is not to say that we shouldn't be paying attention to the growth of authoritarianism in the US, but a couple of centuries of experience with (nominal) democracy is an important distinction between the US and Nazi Germany, Bolshevik USSR, Mao's China and Pahlavi Iran. Just because you use the same tools doesn't guarantee the same outcome. https://www.juancole.com/2022/01/republican-government-techniques.html?fbclid=IwAR3Enwendguc51TjpLnH4NDGSamIuNHvHPrlnUWBKeVaYgqzoPfxdGRHrEw

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