---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Brenner, Michael via mbrenner <mbrenner@list.pitt.edu>
Date: Fri, Mar 14, 2025 at 5:04 PM
From: Brenner, Michael via mbrenner <mbrenner@list.pitt.edu>
Date: Fri, Mar 14, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Friends & Colleagues
The Senate Democrats' imminent capitulation to Trump/Musk intimidation is a near exact replica of how the German Catholic Party acted in the Bundestag on March 23 1933. Hitler personally gave them a choice: either vote in favor of the proposed grant of total
power to the Nazi government or the Brown Shirts lining the walls would seize the chamber and evict its members. The Democrats are bending the knee in fear of Trump/Musk imposing martial law if their draconian budget were not passed and the government shut
down. Hitler did offer the Catholic Party leaders a thin fig leaf in declaring that Christian churches would be a pillar of the new Reich. There wasn't need of a fig leaf for Schumer
et al to surrender unconditionally
Isn't it obvious that the Democrats' leadership have long past their sell-by date?
"On 23 March 1933, the Enabling
Act, an amendment to the Weimar
Constitution, passed in the Reichstag by a vote of 444 to 94.[23] This
amendment allowed Hitler and his cabinet to pass laws—even laws that violated the constitution—without the consent of the president or the Reichstag.[24] As
the bill required a two-thirds majority to pass, the Nazis used intimidation tactics as well as the provisions of the Reichstag Fire Decree..... The Enabling Act would subsequently serve as the legal foundation for the dictatorship the Nazis established.[27]"*
Cheers
Michael Brenner
[edit]
Hitler's
Reichstag speech promoting the Enabling
Act, delivered at the Kroll
Opera House, following the Reichstag
fire
The government confronted the newly elected Reichstag with the
Enabling Act that would have vested the government with legislative powers for a period of four years. As the bill required a two-thirds majority in order to pass and the coalition parties only controlled 340 of the 647 seats (52.5 percent), the government
needed the support of other parties.[23]
The Centre Party, whose vote was going to be decisive, was split on the issue of the Enabling Act. Chairman Kaas advocated supporting the bill in parliament in return for government guarantees. These mainly included respecting the President's Office retaining
veto power, religious liberty, its involvement in culture, schools and education, the
concordats signed by German states and the existence of the Centre Party. Via Papen, Hitler responded positively and personally addressed the issues in his Reichstag speech but he repeatedly put off signing a written letter of agreement.
Kaas was aware of the doubtful nature of such guarantees but when the Centre Party assembled on 23 March to decide on their vote, Kaas advised his fellow party members to support the bill, given the "precarious state of the party". He described his reasons
as follows: "On the one hand we must preserve our soul, but on the other hand a rejection of the Enabling Act would result in unpleasant consequences for fraction and party. What is left is only to guard us against the worst. Were a two-thirds majority not
obtained, the government's plans would be carried through by other means. The President has acquiesced in the Enabling Act. From the DNVP no attempt of relieving the situation is to be expected."[24]
According to English historian
Richard J. Evans, the main reason why the Centre Party voted for the Enabling Act despite questioning the sincerity of Hitler's guarantees was because of the intimidation that it was subjected to.