Déja vu

It was characteristic of the rise of the Nazi movement in Germany and of the Communist movements in Europe after 1930 that they recruited their members from this mass of apparently indifferent people whom all other parties had given up as too apathetic or too stupid for their attention. The result was that the majority of their membership consisted of people who never before had appeared on the political scene. This permitted the introduction of entirely new methods into political propaganda, and indifference to the arguments of political opponents; these movements not only placed themselves outside and against the party system as a whole, they found a membership that had never been reached, never been "spoiled" by the party system. Therefore they did not need to refute opposing arguments and consistently preferred methods which ended in death rather than persuasion, which spelled terror rather than conviction. They presented disagreements as invariably originating in deep natural, social, or psychological sources beyond the control of the individual and therefore beyond the power of reason. This would have been a shortcoming only if they had sincerely entered into competition with other parties; it was not if they were sure of dealing with people who had reason to be equally hostile to all parties.

(Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, part III, chapter 10.1)

http://www.cscd.osaka-u.ac.jp/user/rosaldo/101010OTHA.htm

The method has shown its effectiveness, but if today’s practitioners seem more farcical that could be because the outcome is still unknown. Back in the 1920s and 30s, the rising demagogues were also perceived as buffoons. They turned out to be lethally dangerous. But then they were the produce of their times, of war and economic disruptions. Somewhat like the present circumstances, in black and white instead of colour. So Trump could have copied Obama’s 2008 victory speech: “If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible.”