Trump & The United States Are NOT One And The Same

Way back in 1934, in Nuremberg, Germany, Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party held their annual party rally, a series of special events and speeches that took place in September of that year. Hitler had been chancellor of Germany only since January 30, 1933, and he had only been total ruler for about a month, as President Paul von Hindenburg had died in early August, bringing Hitler to combine the presidency with the chancellorship, as "Führer." During one event, Rudolf Hess, a major Nazi official, declared: "The party is Hitler, Hitler however is Germany, just as Germany is Hitler" ("Die Partei ist Hitler, Hitler aber ist Deutschland, wie Deutschland Hitler ist.").

The most important aspect of Hitler's assumption of the presidential powers was that he became the supreme commander of the armed forces, a situation that worked out so well for the world (written, of course, with GREAT SARCASM, for those in need of clarification). With this power now vested in Hitler, he had the military forces swear loyalty to HIM, not to Germany: "I swear to God this sacred oath, that I shall give unconditional obedience to the Führer of the German Reich and people (and) supreme commander of the armed forces, Adolf Hitler, and, that as a brave soldier, I shall, at any time, be prepared to lay down my life for this oath." (German: "Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, daß ich dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes, Adolf Hitler, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen.")

So, one can see the entwining of Hitler and the German nation with the idea that an attack on, or criticism of, Hitler, being seen as an attack on, or criticism of, Germany itself. It had stunning affect, as German officers (including Austrians), long associated with respect for powerful, and even autocratic rulers, but with otherwise a general lack of political involvement, could not easily bring themselves to oppose this little man with the toothbrush mustache, because of this oath, even though they could see the terrible destruction he was bringing to others and to Germany. A few independent thinkers in the military opposed many aspects of Nazism from early on, but most German officers remained in denial right up to the very end, cowering behind the above oath. A few military officers, with the knowledge they had of Nazi crimes and the downward spiral of the war, did act, risking their own lives FOR Germany, but AGAINST Hitler. They finally admitted the truth to themselves, that Hitler and Germany were TWO different things, not one and the same. While their attempt against Hitler and the Nazis failed, there is a memorial plaque in Berlin where some of the anti-Hitler participants were executed. The plaque reads: "Here died for Germany," followed by the names of those executed on that spot, but it represents ALL who tried to overthrow the evil they saw. And note, it says, "died for Germany," not a word linking Germany and that son-of-a-bitch Hitler.

Any president of the United States, including Donald Trump, is chosen by Americans as their temporary national and international representative and head of the executive branch of a three part system of government, along with the legislative and judicial branches. Criticism of our presidents, including Donald Trump, does not mean Americans hate their country, as the president and the nation are separate, not linked in any way as the Nazis did with Hitler and Germany. Presidents of the United States are asked direct questions by the media, and sometimes even by every day citizens. Presidents also receive criticism, fairly, unfairly, or somewhere in between, by the media and every day citizens. It is not only permitted, it is expected. We are not a nation of lockstep zombies, although some Americans seem to be doing a great imitation of such. Americans also can, and should, question military leaders, including four star Marine generals, an act we recently were told was "highly inappropriate," by the spokesperson for the current Trump administration. In our system, no one in a position of authority is immune from being questioned or criticized, it goes with the territory, and those who assumed those positions of authority "knew what they were getting themselves into," as Trump told the widow of Army Sergeant La David Johnson, a man who was killed in operations in Niger, along with three other Green Berets, in October 2017.   
     
WORD HISTORY:
Cower-This word, unrelated to "coward," in spite of the modern similarity in spelling and meaning, has a cloudy history, but it goes back to Indo European "guh/geu," with the notion, "to bend, to curve, to arch." The problem comes as to how some Germanic languages got their forms of the Indo European word; that is, was it by a direct offshoot from the parent Indo European? Or an indirect borrowing by way of another language? I can find no form in Old Germanic, and "perhaps" a form entered Germanic by way of its North Germanic branch, where it then spread southward to Low German, which eventually passed it to High German and to English. Its basic meaning in the long distant past seems to have been, "to sit or kneel down in a hunched (arched, bent) position." Lithuanian, a Baltic language in northeastern Europe, had "gurnas," from the Indo European form, and meant, "hip, hipjoint;" that is, "the bone or joint that permits crouching down." The word first appears in English circa 1300 as "curen," although there could have been an earlier unrecorded form, but it seems to have been borrowed from Low German "kuren" ("watch or peek out from a hiding place in the woods"). Some relatives are Old Norse "karr," more directly tied in meaning to the Indo European, meant "curly, wavy" ("bent, curved"), while Swedish "kura" means "huddle." German has "kauern," which means "to crouch in an arched position, to cower." The Brothers Grimm, who not only assembled fairy tales, but who also did extensive work on word histories, wondered if "cower" might be related to the English verb "cow," meaning, "to intimidate;" thus with the possible original meaning, "to cause someone to crouch in fear." I must admit the two words likely come from the same Indo European base (Old Norse had "kuga," meaning, "to oppress;" so, a likely relative of "cow." It has nothing to do with the noun for the name of the animal, "cow.")