January 6: The 2021 version of ‘The Reichstag Fire’?
One of the real brains behind the modern American conservative movement is seeing some ties between the January 6 fiasco at The US Capitol and an event that led to the rise of one of the worst evils ever to stalk the planet Earth:
On the heels of the breach of the U.S. Capitol, Big Tech companies have swiftly censored the President, the emerging social media platform Parler was effectively shut down, and there are growing calls for no-fly lists.
Does the assault on the Capitol warrant such a response?
“We’re living in a gigantic lie that is reminiscent of the Reichstag fire,” argues talk show host Dennis Prager, founder of Prager University.
This is American Thought Leaders, and I’m Jan Jekielek.
Jan Jekielek: Dennis Prager, so good to have you back on American Thought Leaders.
Dennis Prager: Thank you. I’m honored.
Mr. Jekielek: Dennis, these are incredibly, incredibly difficult times. You’re a voice of reason for many Americans and frankly, at least one Canadian [myself]. I was in the House buildings, in the Cannon Rotunda when everything happened at the Capitol on January 6. I didn’t really understand what was happening at the time. I want to start off by just saying, Dennis, what do you make of this whole situation?
Mr. Prager: There are a lot of components: What was done, how it was reacted to, and how it is being used. I’ll do the third one first. As I wrote in my column this week, this is the Reichstag fire relived, 1933, a month after the Nazis took over—after an election, as it happens.
In Germany, the German parliament was burned down. We’re not absolutely certain who did it, but it seems that a communist did it. Anyway, it didn’t matter to the Nazis who did it, what mattered was what they could use it for, and they used it for the Enabling Act, which they quickly ran through Parliament, and it enabled the Nazis to curtail civil liberties in the name of a national emergency caused by the burning of the parliament of the Reichstag.
Now obviously, we don’t have concentration camps, though I’m not sure they had concentration camps then either because it was probably one month into the Nazi regime. People aren’t being beaten in the streets yet, but the parallels are frighteningly accurate. The curtailing of free speech was the first thing done. Communists and anti-Nazis, whether communist or not, could not express themselves after the fire. The fire was used to say: Look at what’s happening. We have to curtail free speech.
The Left in the United States is totalitarian; the Left everywhere is totalitarian. Liberals are not; liberals are just useful idiots for the Left. And I say this loving, truly loving and admiring the liberals in my life. They don’t realize they’re useful idiots for the Left because they are so preoccupied with fighting the Right. This is the only thing liberals really know because they don’t stand for what they used to. They used to stand for racial integration, they don’t care about that anymore; they used to stand for being colorblind, they don’t care about that anymore; they used to stand for free speech, they don’t care about that anymore.
But the Left—anywhere it has gained power, from Vladimir Lenin, 1917, Russia, to today, there has been no exception wherever the Left gains power, including our universities. It’s a perfect example: the curtailing of free speech at our universities. Everywhere, there isn’t an exception. The Left curtails, suppresses free speech, and there’s a reason for that, because they cannot withstand intellectual argument. [Leftist ideology is] an intellectual balloon. It’s just air or helium inside.
If you puncture it with an idea—that’s why they hate PragerU because in five minutes, we really do undo a lot of what kids are brainwashed to believe, because we make sense. We’re called conservative, but we’re actually just intellectually honest, which the Left loathes.
This must be understood. There was no exception in the last 100 years to the Left taking power and suppressing free speech. They’re using January 6 as the excuse to do so. That Twitter has taken down Parler—or Amazon, technically, has taken down Parler—is a perfect example. […]
The big social media companies have banned the sitting president of the United States from posting on their sites. Meanwhile, Twitter allows loser / celebrity Kathy Griffin to post — for the second time — a picture of her holding a replica of President Trump’s bloody severed head.
Twitter also allowed Hollywood loser Alec Baldwin to post a parody of Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream’ speech (imagine if WE did that):
Two Hollywood dirt-bags are allowed to freely post their violent fantasies about Donald Trump on Twitter. Yet, President Trump gets banned for ‘inciting violence.’
Kamala Harris — preparing to be your Vice-President — was openly praising the rioting and looting and burning that occurred nationwide last summer over alleged police brutality.
Despite all of these allegations that violence was being ‘incited’ at The Capitol, federal prosecutors have admitted they have found NO EVIDENCE there was any plan by the building breachers to “capture or kill” anyone on January 6.
Also, there is apparently video and print evidence that a CNN correspondent was embedded with The Capitol breachers and was partnered with a BLM / Antifa activist.
No doubt. “These are the times that try men’s soul.”
No doubt. “The most formidable weapon against errors of any kind is reason”.
No doubt. The CCP and the Democrat Party are now, glaringly, one and the same.
No doubt that the Conservative artery of “We the People” has got to fight like we are the third monkey on the ramp to Noah’s Arc.
A remanent son of the American Revolution.
During the 1980’s I was trained to teach adults to read via the Laubach Literacy Program. The motto of this program was “each one teach one”. At least half of our population is woefully ignorant of history and how we are repeating it. I encourage everyone to bone up on their history (I forget more than I learn now) using Prager U, andHillsdale College. Feel free to add other resources. We can reach people one on one if we can’t broadcast. It is imperative that we reach the unaffiliated voters ( of which I am one now ). Conservative values are not confined and sometimes not even present in the Republican Party.
Today, the war cry from the R’s is THE BORDER. Biden’s amnesty, illegal immigration ‘plan’. Tom Cotton, all ablaze and yelling, shouting. R’s think we are so dumb. 10 days ago he couldn’t/wouldn’t support voter fraud. Now on Defense because they did nothing on Offense for 4Y. And now we must rally the conservative troops for 2022 and 2024. I’m with Betsy. Unaffiliated. NOT voting R any longer top of ticket and these national seats NOR state seats as well. The local GOP Senator is another one of those to squeak, squeal on radio but I’ve yet to hear, see any ACTION. What did the GOP do in 2020 to deter, stop, force Cooper’s hand? Please, please elaborate or educate if I missed an episode. Same for national GOP. Some were even forces against MAGA and now I’m locked in for 2022 and 2024 to once again save the country and defeat those awful Dems. .Won’t be re-elected or elected on my vote.
Republicans have proven themselves worthless and traitorous to their conservative voters. They are and have been nothing but conservative imposters. In these last days, the truth has come out. I’m through with them.