OPINION: Will any Republican grow a pair and crush the cult?

OPINION: Will any Republican grow a pair and crush the cult?

Operation Hummingbird sounds pretty, but it was anything but that.  It was also referred to as the “Night of the Long Knives.”  In a nutshell, Hitler violently purged a number of people who he thought were a threat to his power from June 30 to  July 2, 1934.

Paranoia, unlike milk, has no shelf life.

One of those killed in the purge was his Nazi paramilitary leader, Ernst Rohm.

The Sturmabteilung wanted to remove some highbrows from the Nazi hierarchy of leadership.

Rohm wanted more fanatical Nazis to sit at the top, particularly where the military was involved, but Hitler needed these highbrows, these elitists in order to strengthen power whenever President Hindenburg was to die.

Hindenburg obliged and died of natural causes on August 2,  1934 at the age of 86.

Rohm and his Sturmabteilung wanted to take the Nazi revolution to a higher level, voicing great discontent with such notables as Hess, Goering, Himmler, and Heydrich.

The aforementioned fearsome foursome felt very threatened and persuaded Hitler to get rid of Rohm.

Hitler knew very well that Rohm was not a threat to him as they had been longtime friends.

Still, Hitler had Himmler and his SS to carry out “Nightingale.”  Friendship, schmenship, right?

Later, Hitler rewarded Himmler by moving the SS out of the shadow of the SA.  Himmler’s power grew exponentially.

In fact, reflecting upon his completed task in June-July 1934,  Himmler said this in a speech in 1943 when discussing what would be the Final Solution:

I wish to bring to you in complete frankness a difficult chapter. We should be able to talk about it quite openly among ourselves, but we will never speak of this publicly. As little as we, [he hesitated] on June 30 to carry out the task that we were ordered to perform and to stand comrades who had gone astray against the wall and shoot them, so little did we speak about that and [so little] will we speak about that [in the future].

Every single one of us shuddered; nevertheless, each of us understood clearly that he would do it the next time if it were ordered and if it were necessary.

By “it” we are talking about the evacuation of the Jews, the annihilation of the Jewish people.

History lesson over.

When people show you who they are in word or action, believe them.

Friendship doesn’t mean a damn thing when you wish to claim absolute power.

Even the most evil of people can be scared to crap when they feel someone is gunning for them.

But most of all, fanaticism and blind allegiance are never a good thing.  It is very dangerous.

Which begs the question: Why hasn’t anyone in the Republican Party, minus a person here and there trying to be a vice presidential candidate, come out, say that Trump has no business ever running (or ruining) this country again, and take the fight to him for the nomination?

Most of all, why hasn’t Ron DeSantis shown the courage to plant his feet and fight Trump?

Oh yeah, I got it figured out.  He needs the nomination first and he won’t get it if he angers the MAGA crowd.  Ok.  I get it.

But he must know that if Biden took on Trump today, Biden beats Trump by a greater margin than he did in 2020.

Truth be told however, I think Trump is the only person Biden can beat right now.

DeSantis will be the second because Free State Ron has immersed himself in the world of MAGA lunacy which cannot now, nor will ever, win a nationwide election.

But it’s not just DeSantis.

No one in the party has shown a willingness to be their own person, to make the attempt, just the attempt to reach moderate Republicans who are begging for representation.

Their party representation on a national level blow like the winds out to center at Wrigley.

You have Lindsey Graham, for Christ’s sake (it is Holy Week, so I mean that with great respect) who is a spitting image of the Colonel from “Boogie Nights” in looks and in deeds and is a pathetic shill and shell of a once respected man.

Courage goes a long way.  It is admired.

The one Republican moderate (not some SS spawn, bearing false witness in the Lord’s name, turd) who has the fortitude to quote Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Emperor’s New Clothes” to the nation and offer a Republican (moderate) alternative to blind faith and low testosterone levels) will emerge as a force to be reckoned with.

Whatever power this felonious, seditious, treasonous idol of every Red State trailer park has on what was once a Grand Old Party, a party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan, it will end in defeat.

Vindictiveness only takes you so far, sort of like the dog who chases a car. What the hell does he do to the car once he catches it?

I love sound political debate, the back and forth like two prize fighters looking to and that knock out blow.

But what we have now is a cult, an allegiance to a conman who has been enabled by spineless eunuchs who now make up the Republican Party.

Holy Crap!  Goldwater would be turning over in his grave.

We have the Heaven’s Gate searching for the Hale-Bopp comet, which by now has revolved around the House Republicans in Uranus and who threaten the planet Pluto only because of the affiliation with Disney.

Quite the solar system.

What does this have to do with Operation Nightingale? Nothing perhaps.

But maybe everything.

A leopard does not change its spots.  Neither do autocrats or the control they have, not only on the people, but on other politicians.

This is the best the Republicans can do.

I will pull my inner Robert Conrad and dare you.

Yes, I dare you to grow a pair and take it to Trump rather than continue to be emasculated by a treacherous bully.

As George Harrison sang, and I will end it with this, “It’s All Too Much.”

David Magnusson is a retired police chief with 36 ½ years of law enforcement experience having spent 30 of these years with the Miami Police Department retiring as an assistant chief. He was chief of the Havelock Police Department in the Marine Corps City of Havelock, North Carolina, home to Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station. He returned to South Florida as chief of the El Portal Police Department.

A historian, Magnusson has written on military and presidential history topics. He is a diehard baseball (St. Louis Cardinals) and boxing fan. Magnusson resides in South Florida with his wife. Their children and grandchildren are never too far away.
David Magnusson

is an opinion writer, historian and former Police Chief of El Portal, Florida and Havelock, North Carolina who served in the Miami Police Department for 30 years. He teaches inclusive policing for the Anti-Defamation League.