President-elect Trump is planning massive infrastructure spending, and that will be a good thing (especially if by some miracle it reaches us here in Franklin County), but I concur with Naomi Shulman and The Recorder that we must never let down our guard while this potentially dangerous man is in office. As late as the 1970s, one could still hear older Germans excusing Hitler because he “built the Autobahn (Germany’s interstate highway system).” Like Roosevelt on this side of the Atlantic, Hitler began his administration with massive jobs programs.
I also agree with the letter-writer unwilling to forgive Trump voters, their personal pain notwithstanding. They may, by their own account, not be racists, but they are fellow-travelers at best. I cringe when I hear people insist Trump does not mean what he says. That’s what Germans said about Hitler. Appointing Steve Bannon to the White House inner circle is a clear signal that Trump understands full well the usefulness of race-baiting in keeping his base aligned.
I know it seems hyperbolic to compare an American politician to Hitler — today regarded as an incarnation of absolute evil — but we do well to remember that Hitler started out as just a loud-mouth who promised to make Germany great again.
Kathe Geist
Charlemont