When Mayer asked about the Holocaust, however, things took a
dark turn. How it could happen snapped into sharp focus. These perfectly
pleasant Germans said they knew nothing about it. Or that it didn’t happen. Or
it did happen, but it was exaggerated. Or, if they did acknowledge that it
happened, well, sure, Hitler went too far, but the Jews had done a lot to bring
it on themselves.
Which brings me to the present, and my Latter-Day Saint,
Trump-voting father. When I told him that one of Trump’s first actions as president would be to kick me out of the National Guard, he refused to believe
it. I showed him the clips of him promising to do just that on the campaign
trail and reminded him of the 2017 ban. He still wouldn’t accept the obvious,
because “the military can’t recruit enough people as it is. No way they start
kicking people out.” He could not bring himself to believe that his vote would
directly impact his own family members enough to change his mind, even when
presented with incontrovertible evidence, because it might cause a real “Are we
the baddies?” moment.
At the same time, supposed moderate apologists for fascism
like Jordan Peterson and Joe Rogan observe that what’s happening to
trans people might go a little too far but that they brought it on themselves and the rise of fascism is a completely understandable response. While
conservatives are calling for “the eradication of transgenderism,” I see people
aligned with the GOP engaging in the same sorts of mental gymnastics that
Milton Mayer’s postwar Nazis did.