Trump’s "Hitler’s Birthday" Gift: The Death of American Democracy

April 20 was Hitler’s holiday. Now it may mark the day Trump declares martial law, suspends the Constitution, and finishes the job he started on January 6…

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April 20th has a special significance for Nazis and neo-Nazis around the world. Neo-Nazi groups in states like Florida, Missouri, and North Carolina have organized events specifically to commemorate Hitler’s 4/20 birthday. These include “Adolf Hitler Celebrations” and gatherings marketed as “family-friendly” to indoctrinate children into white supremacist ideology.

In Georgia, a neo-Nazi shared a photo of a swastika-decorated cake baked by his girlfriend in honor of Hitler’s birthday; at the Federal Correctional Facility in Florence, Colorado, a Hitler birthday celebration among white supremacist inmates escalated into a race riot involving over 200 prisoners, resulting in deaths and injuries.

This year, though, the celebration of Hitler’s 136th birthday may be a bigger deal than any year before. Because that may be the day Trump’s plan to end American democracy is finally, fully put into place.

Andreas Michaelis, the German ambassador to the United States (who knows well the significance of Hitler’s birthday) wrote about this danger, in a confidential (but leaked) briefing document that gives us a hint:

He wrote that Donald Trump’s agenda is one of “maximum disruption” bringing about “a redefinition of the constitutional order — maximum concentration of power with the president at the expense of Congress and the federal states.

“Basic democratic principles and checks and balances will be largely undermined, the legislature, law enforcement and media will be robbed of their independence and misused as a political arm, Big Tech will be given co-governing power.”

Strongman authoritarians like Hitler, et al, don’t just take over governments and end freedom and liberty all on their own; first, they and their supporters ignore the law, and then set out to gut the institutions that support and defend democracies.

When you see a leader bending the main institutions of the nation to his will, you know this process is well underway:

— Paul Weiss and several other major law firms have already buckled to Trump, promising tens of millions in free work for his favorite causes and ending diversity programs.
— Republicans in Congress are using threats of impeachment to lay the foundation for attacking the independence of federal judges who rule against Trump.
— Multiple major media outlets have already rolled over and paid off Trump to appease him in the hopes it’ll stop his lawsuits; sensing blood in the water, though, he’s doubling down on his attacks on the Fourth Estate.
— Multiple universities have caved in to Trump’s demands as he arrests and deports their foreign students for speaking out against him and his fellow autocrat Netanyahu.

Most concerning, though, is what Trump has planned for Hitler’s birthday — 4/20 — which also appears to be a favorite of Elon Musk (although it’s also often a proxy for marijuana).

(According to the Tesla website, April 20 is “Elon Musk Day,” a moment in time for celebrating the underappreciated genius. Elon once tweeted that he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420”; in 2021 he raised money for SpaceX by selling shares for $419.99, just one penny below $420; he acquired Twitter for $54.20 a share; has noted in a tweet, “I was born 69 days before 4/20”; and sometimes just randomly tweets 420.)

This year, however, Hitler’s birthday is the date one of Donald Trump’s first executive orders requires Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to submit to him a report on whether or not he can suspend the Constitution and Bill of Rights by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807.

Much like Hitler obtained the legal authority to ignore — and even violate — the German constitution with the Enabling Acts on March 23, 1933, fifty-three days after being appointed Chancellor, Trump is looking into similar authority a mere three months after being sworn in for his second term.

The Insurrection Act gives the president the power to ignore the Posse Comitatus Act, passed after the Civil War to guarantee that American troops would never again point their weapons at civilians within the United States. It does not require an act of Congress and is not time-limited; like the Enabling Acts, it could last for as long as Trump holds the presidency.

And odds are that even the Supreme Court won’t stop him, as the justices have traditionally deferred to presidential decision-making when it comes to states of emergency like those that would be identified when invoking the Insurrection Act.

Pundits are torn on how far Trump will push this, with Republicans suggesting he’d be unwilling to go beyond the bounds of the Constitution and Posse Comitatus. But he’s already tried to use the military against civilians; General Mark Milley refused Trump’s request, but Milley is now long gone.

Would the law constrain him? Apparently not.

— Trump’s tariff plan is illegal (only Congress has the power to impose tariffs), and Charles Koch and Leonard Leo are suing him to undo the tariffs, but he doesn’t care; he’s going ahead with them anyway.
— Trump’s deportations without due process are illegal, but he doesn’t care; he’s carrying them out anyway.
— Trump’s taking millions from the Saudis for his golf tournament this past weekend is illegal under the emoluments clause of the Constitution, but he doesn’t care; he’s taking their cash anyway.
— Trump’s hustling Tesla cars in front of the White House is an illegal violation of the Hatch Act, but he doesn’t care; he did it anyway and not a single Republican dared challenge him.
— Trump’s hatchet man Musk’s wholesale firing of government employees and shutting down agencies created and funded by Congress is illegal, but they’re both gleefully ignoring the law and the Constitution.

We’re long past the moment when our first felon president slipped into his criminal mode; the question now is how far he’ll go once he gets his Hitler’s Birthday present in roughly two weeks.

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