How Trump and the Nazis Stole Christmas to Promote White Nationalism

US president, Donald Trump, is an unabashed liar as is evident by the remarks he makes whether in the political sphere, whether in the economic field, whether in the sports arena, whether in cultural circles, or whether regarding religious issues. The vast majority of US citizens do not believe him, including his recent statement on Christmas.

The following is an article by Cristina Maza titled: “How Trump and the Nazis Stole Christmas to Promote White Nationalism.”

President Donald Trump wants Americans to think he re-invented Christmas.

“We can say merry Christmas again,” he has said on numerous occasions both during his campaign for president and his presidency. “Christmas is back, better and bigger than ever before,” he bragged to supporters on the eve of the Christmas season.

“You can say again, ‘Merry Christmas’ because Donald Trump is now the president,” Trump’s former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski had boasted last year after Trump won the election.

Trump’s so-called Christian supporters claim that the president is ending the alleged “war on Christmas,” which has been presented by evangelicals as a threat to America’s Christian culture. His supporters say Americans have become too politicized when they wish people happy holidays, a neutral term that can be used for people who celebrate the Jewish Hanukkah, the Muslim Eid, or any other religious holiday that takes place around the same time as Christmas.

But critics counter that Trump is promoting a version of the holidays that excludes members of other religions, and that his crusade is part of a larger attempt to define the US as a country for white Christians alone.

Wishing people “merry Christmas” instead of “happy holidays,” is thus in line with Trump’s decision to ban citizens of Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, critics say. It fits with his refusal to condemn white supremacists when they march against diversity, and with his condemnation of athletes who protest police brutality against black men.

With this in mind, the fight to end the alleged war on Christmas is exclusionary politics at its most flagrant.

Richard King, a professor at Washington State University who studies how white supremacists exploit culture, said: “I see such invocations of Christmas as a kind of cypher, what some would call a dog whistle. It does not appear to be intolerant or extreme, but to attentive audiences it speaks volumes about identity.”

He added: “Much like Trump’s slogan 'Make America Great Again,' that led to protests by NFL players, Christmas is a way to talk about peril, to assert a soft or hard version of white nationalism.”

Trump isn’t the first political figure in history to co-opt Christmas. In fact, some see parallels between Trump’s speeches in front of Christmas trees and attempts by authoritarian regimes like the Nazis of Germany during the Adolf Hitler era to manipulate popular celebrations to promote a political ideology.

Experts say, by weaponizing Christmas in this way, Trump is bringing a dangerous tradition of politicizing religious holidays in the United States. 

Joe Perry, author of the book “Christmas in Germany: A Cultural History”, which examines the way Nazis used Christmas to spread fascism, said “Because Americans have enjoyed a relatively stable political system, Christmas in the US has been relatively immune to the overt politicization of the holiday.”

Perry continued: “But not completely immune. The far right’s engagement in the ‘war on Christmas’ explicitly posits that there is one single Christmas. The holiday’s true nature is somehow under threat from outsiders and liberals who act as forces of degradation, multiculturalism and secularization.”

In this context, Trump has been using the so-called war on Christmas to wage a culture war that pits multicultural liberals against Christian conservatives. He began doing this long before Christmas. Meanwhile, members of the religious right support Trump’s race-baiting form of political rhetoric, including his re-claiming of Christmas.

Likewise, Nazi Germany’s propagandists rooted their idea of Christmas in visions of ethno-nationalism. They rewrote the lyrics of Christmas carols, promoted Nazified holiday traditions and launched numerous Christmas charity events for poor Germans. The ultimate goal was to draw a clear line between those who belonged and those who should be excluded, those who could not benefit from the joys of Christmas.

Trump’s rhetoric somewhat differs from that of Nazi Germany’s, most notably because he has not so far advocated for genocide. But Trump’s talk about Christmas coexists with re-emerging white identity politics, experts say.

Dr. Randy Blazak, a sociology professor who studies white nationalism, said: White nationalists love Trump's bring back Christmas campaign almost as much as evangelicals. His followers see this as gospel and a rebuking of multiculturalism and political correctness, and the growing influence of Jews, atheists and other non-White Anglo-Saxon Protestants.”

Perry says Trump hasn’t yet gone nearly as far as the Nazis in promoting his vision of the holidays. But there are some clear parallels. He said: “Trump and the Nazis share aspects of race-baiting and perhaps broader aspects of extreme conservatism—many political ideologies do.”

Perry added: “Frankly, I’m not sure how far Trump himself is willing to go to use the holiday to promote anti-Muslim or anti-minority visions of the US, or if he even really understands what he is doing with his ‘Merry Christmas’ tirades.”

Because of Trump and his quixotic declaration of Jerusalem or Bayt al-Moqaddas, as capital of the illegal Zionist entity which has led to fierce protests worldwide, including continued killing of peaceful Palestinian protestors, Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus in Occupied Palestine, canceled this year’s Christmas festivities.

Nazareth, the mostly Muslim town where Christians believe Jesus was raised, canceled all Christmas celebrations this year, saying Donald Trump had taken the joy out of the holiday.

The decision by Mayor Ali Salaam to cancel festivities was made in protest of Trump’s decision to shift the US embassy to Jerusalem.

“Our identity and faith aren’t up for debate,” Salaam said during a recent press conference, adding: “The decision [by Trump] has taken away the joy of the holiday, and we will thus cancel the festivities this year.”

He also called Trump “wretched” and said he had stabbed Palestinians in the back.

Nazareth is one of the holiest cities for Christians because it is where the angel Gabriel is said to have told the Virgin Mary that she would give birth to Jesus without any physical contact with any male.

Jesus, who is regarded as one of the great prophets of Islam, grew up in Nazareth, where today around two-thirds of the population is Muslim.

AS/MG