There's Someone You Should Meet

 I do genealogy research as a hobby. I would like you to meet my great-great-uncle, Antonio Sorichilli.

Antonio served in the Italian army during WWII. As you may know, Italy was initially part of the Axis Powers aligned with Adolph Hitler and the Nazis. After the capture and execution of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, Italy fought with the Allies.

When Italy signed an armistice with the Allies in September 1943, the Wehrmacht--the united forces of the German army, navy, and air force--took approximately 600,000 Italian soldiers as prisoners. They had been given a choice: join the Wehrmacht and fight against their own families and countrymen or be sent to the work camps. These men had refused to fight. My Uncle Antonio was one of them.

According to a family who still lived in Europe during WWII, Antonio was sent to a concentration camp. Italian POWs were mainly sent to one of three camps: Flossenburg or Mittelbau-Dora in Germany and Gross-Rosen in Poland. I have yet to discover which one of these he was in.

My Great-Great Uncle Antonio never came home. He died in a concentration camp at the hands of Hitler and his Nazi thugs.

No one in their right mind would admire or praise a horrendous human being like Hitler. Yet, according to retired marine general John Kelly, who served as Donald Trump's White House chief of staff from 2017 to 2109, Trump said more than once that "Hitler did some good things, too." 

Trump also told Kelly that he needed some "German generals." When Kelly asked if he meant the generals of Otto von Bismark, the chancellor of the German Reich responsible for Germany's unification in 1871, or Hitler's generals, Trump responded, "Yeah, yeah, Hitler's generals."

If you are about to tell me that these statements have been "disproven," spare me. We all know Trump admires dictators. He makes excuses for the horrific acts of Vladimir Putin and cares little if Ukraine is overrun. He fawns over and exchanges love letters with Kim Jong Un. He had a playdate at Mara Lago with Hungarian dictator Viktor Orban. He admires these men because he wants to be like them. Wielding unlimited power and demanding those under him bow to his every whim.

And if it comes down to a choice between believing General Kelly--a four-star general who fought in the Vietnam War and led the U.S. Military Southern Command--and a man who couldn't serve his country due to "bone spurs" and lies as often as he breathes--I will choose General Kelly every weekday and twice on a Sunday.

Hitler did not do "good things." Besides the death of my uncle, he sent six million Jews to their deaths in concentration camps. He is responsible for the slaughter of approximately 70 to 85 million people--about three percent of the world's population at the time--during WWII, which he began by invading Poland in 1939.

Let me make this quite clear. I will never support a man who adores and wants to emulate dictators. Ever. I will never vote for anyone who defends him, emulates him, or seeks his endorsement.

If your inclination at this point is to jump in and chastise me for not defending "life" by supporting Democrats, save it. You are defending a man who brags about sexually assaulting women and cheats on his wives with Playboy bunnies and porn stars. Who told his own nephew when he asked for medical assistance for his disabled son that he should just put him in an institution and let him die, then refused to give him a dime. Who lies about everything from Mexico paying for a wall to having a healthcare plan to "I won the 2020 election." Who mocks disabled people. Who refers to women as pigs and dogs who are "bleeding from somewhere." Who caused a rise in hate crimes toward Asian Americans with his juvenile references to COVID-19 as "kung flu." Who believes that "really great people" willingly participate in rallies on the side of swastika-waving neo-Nazis and torch-carrying white supremacists who chant, "The Jews will not replace us."

Want to defend and support this man? That is your choice. But believe me when I tell you there is no moral on high ground on which you can stand and criticize anyone else.

Why does Trump admire Hitler's generals? Because he wants to surround himself with minions who simply obey his every wish. During his last administration, he accidentally put in people with a bit of integrity who put the country and the Constitution over political parties and the whims of a madman.  

From Mike Pence, who refused to violate his Constitutional duty to certify the election, to Bill Barr, who told Trump point blank that there was no evidence of election fraud to investigate and that he did indeed lose the presidential election to Joe Biden, guardrails were put in place. Trump won't make that mistake again.

Let's meet some of Hitler's right-hand men, shall we?

-Adolph Eichmann - the primary architect of the "Final Solution" and the Holocaust. Eichmann came up with the "efficient" method of slaughtering Jews by sending them into gas chambers and disposing of their remains in massive furnaces. Jews were not the only ones who met this fate. The Nazi camps executed prisoners of war, disabled individuals, Roma and Sinti populations, homosexuals, and Jehovah's Witnesses. They even threw in a few priests and nuns for good measure.

-Heinrich Himmler - second in power to Hitler, Himmler was in charge of implementing the Holocaust and oversaw the network of Nazi concentration camps across Europe.

-Hermann Goering - head of the German air force, the Luftwaffe. Goering was responsible for the Blitz on London, an effort to break the spirit of the people of Great Britain. An estimated 40,000 to 43,000 British civilians were killed in the Blitzkrieg.

Theodor Eicke - head of the SS division Totenkopf, Eicke was a significant figure in the development of the Nazi Concentration Camps. The Totenkopf he oversaw was responsible for many of the war crimes committed by the Nazis, including the slaughter of French Arab and African troops who had surrendered to them in France and the murder of Black French Army soldiers they had captured for the crime of simply being Black.

These are the types of people Trump believes should be his advisors. These are who he admires. So if I don't stand with someone who praises the horrific Nazi dictator and his cast of butchers who were responsible for the death of one of my relatives in one of their abhorrent work camps, I am sure you will understand.

Hitler did do one thing for the benefit of all mankind. He committed suicide and rid the world of Adolph Hitler.