May 13, 2006 –  The comparisons of the current GOP to the Nazis in 1930's Germany have been frequent and inescapable.  The wars of aggression, the propaganda, the intolerance of dissent, the overt and constant use of hatred, fear, and repetitive lies, the setup of concentration camps, sending people away to the camps indefinitely and without trial, torturing them while they are there, overtly admitting that torture is something they feel they need to do.  This week we also learned that during the past five years the GOP has also been emulating the Nazis in rounding up as much personal information about everyone in the nation as possible.

But people have not truly been too worried about things because there is a lingering doubt that the American GOP would ever turn the corner from 1930's Nazism to the more deadly 1940's version.  However for any who had that doubt, Monday night marks the end of that doubt and the beginning of the American GOP's turn from 1930's brand Nazism to 1940's round 'em up Nazism.

It wasn't until the Nazis had depleted and bankrupt the nation due to wars of aggression that they began rounding up Jews, gays, Catholics, and others by the trainload.  They needed a scapegoat, they needed to look as if they were addressing the nation's problems, but there were quite simply no more wars that could be started abroad with the resources available.

The current American GOP has found itself in that position.  Massively in debt, the army stretched thin, the poll number shows they are likely on their way out.  And so, following the Nazi playbook, the GOP launched, starting this past December, a crusade to round up 12 million dark skinned people and send them to prisons.  That is exactly what the bill Rep. Sensenbrenner (R) and his GOP colleagues passed in December called for.

And the rhetoric being used to frighten Americans into supporting this effort is straight out of the Nazi playbook.  As we detailed in this article a month ago, the GOP is blaming immigrants for taking money out of the pockets of American citizens by driving down wages and calling them a threat to national security.  Never mind the fact the GOP has repeatedly voted against raising the minimum wage, for GATT and NAFTA that let jobs be shipped to these immigrants to do in the home countries for slave wages, support for outsourcing and off-shoring.

Forget all of these things.  And actually, forget all facts and reality.  Because the reality is these illegal immigrants have been in this nation for decades.  There is no sudden crisis that has occurred to suddenly make immigration not just an issue, but such a top priority that in a time of war, the President is taking to Prime Time not to talk about the state of the War in Iraq, but about these immigrants.

If you don't get an eerie feeling up and down your spine when you think about that you are not paying attention.

He will not address the war.  He will not address the deficits.  He will not address the spying on Americans or rounding up of personal information on all of us.

No, on Monday night George W. Bush will take to the airwaves in Prime Time to make it official:  the GOP is going after immigrants, using the military, in order to escape being held accountable for their horrible policies.  To shift the nation's attention from the fact they have bankrupted us and stretched our military beyond sustainability, the GOP's leader will officially set the nation on a course of blaming the darkies, using hate and fear to call for the beginning of a war on 12 million among us.

And for those of you not keeping score:  first it was just some of us who were labeled terrorists that we said it was ok to round up and torture without trial or hearing, holding even American citizens indefinitely without review.  Now, up the number from some hundreds to 12 million people.

To be clear, the President will not go on the air tomorrow night and call for all out mobilization to round up 12 million people.  But make no mistake, the calls for using our military, the shifting of the nation's attention to those dark-skinned immigrants, the blaming them for the economic conditions and calling them a threat to national security, the calls for rounding all of them up and imprisoning them explicitly in legislation that was passed - yes, passed - by the House of Representatives, makes clear what will be next for this GOP.

It likely won't happen on Bush's watch.  The most likely scenario is that the Democrats will regain some power for a brief while.

But on Monday night, the leader of the 2000 era GOP will make clear that their sights are set on rounding up millions of Americans, and when the opportunity presents itself a few years down the road, when the economy is deep in collapse due to the bankrupting policies of the GOP, when people are hurting because wages have declined beyond livability, when the debt comes due war mongering abroad can't be used due to overextending of the military... they'll be coming for them.

Monday night marks the beginning of the GOP's turn from 1930's Nazism to 1940's Nazism.  Minority immigrants will be made national concern number one to deflect attention from debts and war of aggression.