The Reichstag Fire and a Manufactured Crisis

Echoes of 1933 in 2025

There are the lies we tell to comfort ourselves. The lies that say we are not living in a time of darkest irrationality.

Like the Democrats who try to reassure me that we just have to wait two years, and then Trump will lose control of the House, and things will go back to normal.

Like those in Germany who believed that by bringing Hitler into the government, they could control his wilder influences and somehow make him a responsible leader.

I am reading Death of Democracy: Hitler’s Rise to Power and the Downfall of the Weimar Republic by Benjamin Carter Hett. And the comparison with that time is chilling.

There was a time when anyone who played the Hitler card in a modern political discussion was considered to have lost the argument. But Godwin’s “Law” seems so quaint now in 2025.

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Is Trump a Hitler? No. Hitler was a murderous psychopath, whereas Trump is a crooked grifter. Perhaps he is just as happy selling his conman gold bibles as he is deporting immigrant children.

But there are frightening parallels between America 2025 and Germany 1933.

Trump’s first 40 days have been a full-on attack on the separation of powers between the White House and the functions of government. He has targeted state power and gone after political enemies. We have witnessed a gleeful beating down of the weak, the moderate, and those without the power to defend themselves. As author Adam Serwer writes, “Cruelty is the point.”

And yet, there are those who tell us that Trump will settle down. Or that government obligations will contain him.

Like Hitler.

Looking back to the early 1930s, some could see what was coming.

Frankfurt journalist Franz Von Unrah warned in a series of newspaper articles that the path of Hitler was towards “dictatorship, abolition of power, crushing of all civil liberties, terror, civil war.”

In the end, Hitler’s path to power came from those with money and political power. They were willing to play footsie with the Nazis because they believed Hitler would be a useful tool for their own political interests.

Hett explains the thinking of these men: “Power always made radical leaders act responsibly, didn’t it? This was an almost universal experience in political life.”

The political lies we tell ourselves.

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In his first month in office, Hitler’s position was shaky. He had to act like a moderate to keep his coalition cabinet together. One observer smugly pointed out, “The Chancellor Hitler might have to act differently than the vote-catcher Hitler did.”

But Hitler knew what he was doing.

Those first 39 days of government were about consolidating power and putting his people in place. And then, on day 40, everything changed forever.

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On Monday, February 27, 1933, the Reichstag was set afire, and Hitler was ready.

Using the fire as an excuse, he declared martial law and assumed full power. The Reichstag Decree immediately suspended the right to assembly and freedom of speech. It outlawed political parties and removed all legal restraints on police and state violence.

In the name of protecting Germany from internal attack, Hitler gave himself the power to overrule state and local laws. And then he abolished them.

It just took one crisis and 40 days to destroy democratic Germany.

Trump’s first 40 days haven’t been as chaotic as people think. He has been methodically kicking out the foundations underpinning the world’s strongest democracy. He is deliberately destroying Western alliances and leaving America dangerously alone in the world.

What happens if there is a crisis? Say, another plane crash? A terrorist attack? A desperate immigrant who shoots up police? What happens if Trump finds a reason to do away with the already shredded niceties of law and democratic accountability?

Am I being paranoid? Maybe, but these are the things that keep me up at night. All it took in Germany was a single arsonist and a regime that had a game plan. The results were catastrophic for the 20th century.

Berlin reporter Walter Klaulehn wrote, "First the Reichstag burned, then the books and soon the synagogues. Then Germany began to burn as did England, France and Russia"

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We need to look at the situation with clear eyes. There is no waiting for a turnaround in two years. In this new dark age, we must work on the understanding that no political saviours are coming with a magic wand.

This fight will be led by ordinary people and through everyday acts of resistance.

And this is what will stop Trump. He is a thin-skinned narcissist. His coalition may be broad but largely based on those going along for the ride. He rules over a nation that is deeply divided.

Across the continent and around the world, there are people who see this tide of shitty vindictiveness for what it is. People of goodwill understand that we cannot let it go unchallenged.

However, resistance will require everyone to do their part, however small. The boycott is already having an effect, and it is growing.

I take comfort in that old blues song “Big Boss Man” by Jimmy Reed:

“Big Boss Man, you ain’t so big, you’re just tall, that’s all.”

We see you, Trump. You ain’t so big. We know who you are and what you represent.

And we say no.

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