Merriam Webster defines "putsch" as "a secretly planned and suddenly executed attempt to overthrow a government." Adolph Hitler's effort in 1920 is referred to as the "Beer Hall Putsch." It failed, and Hitler was jailed.
One hundred years later, what arguably may do down as the second-most infamous of putsches - Donald Trump's "Capitol Putsch" - has failed also. Trump may not go to jail, but he has certainly been impeached.
There are parallels in this century-wide duo. Both men exist - and seemed to have existed - without a conscience. The megalomaniacal nature of the two men has prompted cult-like followings in their respective realms that few leaders of either's nation have ever known. Hitler, however, volunteered and fought in the bloody trenches of World War I. Trump cried "bone spurs" to avoid the draft, and save himself from the Vietnam War.
In the "Beer Hall Putsch," after firing up his myrmidons, Hitler led the march on Germany's parliament. When the police opened fire on him and his men, Hitler stood in the breach and fired back. Trump, in his "Capitol Putsch", after exhorting his myrmidons to be strong and brave, and declaring, "I'll be there with you," instead marched in the other direction - straight to the White House, where he would view the carnage from the safety of the Oval Office.
They were very much alike and very, very different. Hitler was hard-core. Trump, he reminds me of a joke Bill Cosby told back in the '60s. Feigning to exhort black activists to march on the police, he declared, "I'll be right behind you. That way when the police start shooting and we turn and run, I'll be in front.
