Building an Overarching Alternate Reality

A Die Zeit opinion writer offers keen insight into the serious trouble President Donald Trump is unleashing with his continual talk of a fraudulent election. Jochen Bittner astutely compares Trump’s actions to the fierce bitterness of the German right in the wake of World War I. Arch conservative military officers and diplomats refused to accept the reality of their nation’s defeat -- and the caustic and humiliating agreement Berlin was forced to sign. They insisted the army did not lose the war. Instead, they laid all the blame on the liberal Social Democrats, who led the new republic built on the wreckage of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s empire (and signed the peace terms) along with communists and Jews, who played a leading role in the society. The right constructed an overarching theory of Dolchstosslegende, or the stab-in-the-back myth. It took hold of much of the nation – undermining support for the fledging Weimar Republic and opening a path for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. Could Trump supporters be heading this way?