Many of you reading this may not have heard of the term “Kristallnacht” but it’s important that we learn from it.

By 1938 it became clear that Adolph Hitler, who led Germany, wanted to eliminate all Jews from German soil, and many were already being deported to Poland. In Paris, a 17 year old Jew named Hershel Grynszpan learned that his family was among those deported. He decided to take matters into his own hands and went to the German Embassy in Paris and demanded to see the ambassador. This obviously didn’t happen, but a low level diplomat named Ernst Vom Rath did meet with him. Mr. Grynszpan then shot him to death.

And even though this was a simple murder in Paris, the Nazi’s reacted with rage. Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels ordered Nazi Storm Troopers to respond with “spontaneous demonstrations” against Jewish buildings and businesses. On the night of November 9th, they did just that. Kristallnacht translates to “The Night of the Broken Glass” and on that night over 7500 businesses and synagogues were damaged or destroyed. Additionally about 100 Jews were killed.

This night chills us not only because of the damage (and German police and fire were instructed not to interfere) but also the aftermath. Germany demanded that Jews pay them the equivalent of $400 million for the murder of Mr. Vom Rath; they also confiscated their businesses and collected the insurance money. Simply put, this was the exact definition blaming the victim. Because Mr. Vom Rath was murdered by a Jew, all Jews were at fault and any revenge was justified.

Why does this matter 80 years later? I’m not claiming that we are in danger of experiencing this again, but I do think our current President leverages a deep seeded fear of immigrants to his own advantage and uses some of the same tools. Famously, when he announced his candidacy in 2015 he told us that Mexico is sending us drug dealers, criminals and rapists.

I’ll be the first to recognize that not everybody to comes to our nation (legally or otherwise) respects our laws. But just as Hershel Grynszan didn’t act on behalf of all Jews, a single Mexican criminal doesn’t mean all Mexicans are criminals.

I’ve written about this previously, but in the days leading up to recent elections, our President sent 5200 active duty military and 2100 reservists to the Mexican border to combat a caravan of men, women, and children who are walking here to escape violence in their own countries.

The President portrays them as invaders. But this caravan is thousands of miles away and already outnumbered by the troops at the border (who are not allowed to interact with them.

Yes, he’s blaming the victims. Let’s look 80 years back and tell him that we won’t fall for it again.

I’ve written several times before that President Trump lacks even a basic understanding of how our nation works. This week he has proven me right beyond anything I could have imagined.

In the last few weeks we’ve learned that men, women, and children from Central America have begun a migrant caravan through Mexico in the hopes of reaching the United States. They are fleeing poverty and gang violence and chose a dangerous and exhausting journey out of desperation.

But our President refuses to see this. He repeatedly refers to this pilgrimage as an invasion.

His two responses shows us again how little he knows about his job:

• He has misused his power as Commander in Chief to move troops to the border. When he learned about the caravan he ordered state National Guard troops and active duty soldiers to the border to “protect us.” So here’s the problem: they can’t do any law enforcement. They can’t detain or arrest anyone who crosses the border illegally. In 1878 Congress passed a law called Posse Comitatus. It stated that our military protects us from those who endanger us from outside our nation and they cannot perform law enforcement duties. So if these troops are called to the Mexican border, what can they do? Good question. They can support law enforcement. In other words they can make repairs and transport law enforcement. Yes, they will can be uber for border patrol. As for me, I think that’s a terrific reason to pull our military from their jobs and families.
• His lack of understanding of our Constitution continues to stun me. In the last few days President Trump has challenged our belief that anyone born here is, by right, a citizen. Actually, it’s not a belief: it’s embedded in the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This amendment was passed after the Civil War to ensure that newly freed slaves were guaranteed citizenship. Mr. Trump believes that he can end or change a Constitutional Amendment by executive order. Even House Speaker Paul Ryan recognizes this isn’t true. So does the Supreme Court. In 1898 the Supreme Court in United States vs. Wong Kim Ark ruled that anyone born in the US is automatically a citizen. Mr. Ark was born in San Francisco in 1873 to Chinese parents. In 1895 he visited China, but on his return to the United States he was refused entry because of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 that denied entry of nearly anyone who was Chinese. Mr. Ark claimed that he was a citizen by virtue of being born in the US. In 1898 the Court ruled that if someone is born in the United States, that person is a citizen and nothing else matters. You can read more about this in a previous post.