Newsletter: Every fascism alarm bell is going off on Donald Trump

Good morning. It is Saturday, Oct. 26. Here’s what we’re doing in Opinion.

I really wanted to open with some whimsical meditation on the World Series between our Dodgers and the New York Yankees — how our beloved boys in blue playing this far into October has a way of shrinking this town like nothing else can, unifying Angelenos across vast geographical expanses and class lines. But the New York Times had to publish a recording of former President Trump’s longest-serving White House chief of staff, retired Marine Gen. John F. Kelly, saying the man who has a coin-flip chance of being the next president met the definition of a fascist and would rule like a dictator.

Even in this town, that revelation and another that Trump wished he had generals like Hitler’s (evidently instead of John Kelly) is a much bigger deal than a Yankees-Dodgers World Series. So, set aside the baseball escapism for a moment.

The odd thing is, as op-ed columnist Jackie Calmes notes, Trump’s pining for Hitlerian military leadership is, along with just about any statement he makes having to do with history, based on ignorance. For example:

“Perhaps nothing, however, says historical ignorance so much as Trump’s recent comment on Fox News — not his first such remark — that Abraham Lincoln should have cut a deal with the South to prevent the Civil War. ‘Why wasn’t that settled?’ he said on Fox & Friends, prompting a rare pushback from a host, who noted that Southern states had seceded before Lincoln took office.”

Good news is, there’s plenty of historical evidence to show why it won’t turn out well for the United States if we elect a president who wants to round up millions of people, admires fascist regimes that inflicted mass death and suffering, and wants to, in effect, isolate the American economy from the world. Back in 2022, I worked on a “Hear Me Out” project featuring letter writers who had survived the Holocaust, some of whom were deeply shaken by the state of American democracy and troubled by the right-wing embrace of a lying insurrectionist.

Please, with the election 11 days away, read up on history — or just listen to the extraordinary warnings of former high-level Trump White House staffers. Then, you can go back to watching the World Series. Go Dodgers, and go democracy.

Vivid pinks, greens and Dodger blue mark the joy of October in Southern California. Author Susan Straight dispenses with the dig on our season-free climate with a simple observation: Just look at all the color. Pink and purple flowers bloom in gardens throughout Southern California (many are non-native, but still!), and with the World Series back in L.A., the color palate expands to Dodger Blue.

This Angeleno is rooting for the Yankees. Nobody’s perfect, but I see where author and former L.A. Times book editor David L. Ulin is coming from: You can change cities but not your childhood baseball team. Ulin moved to Los Angeles from Manhattan more than 30 years ago, and anyone thinking of giving him grief about not adopting his new home team ought to think — there’s an awful lot of blue in the stands when the Dodgers play in other teams’ stadiums, and L.A. expats are a growing species. Baseball loyalty runs deep.

It’s time to tell the truth about how immigration affects the U.S. economy. UCLA business professor Christopher Tang wants other experts in his field to set the record straight on immigration: “If you’re a physician and a neighbor asks you a medical question, you’re probably happy to share your professional expertise. If you’re a heating and cooling contractor and a friend asks you about her furnace, you likely do the same. In that spirit, I think it’s time for business people to share what we know about immigration: that it powers economic growth and provides many other benefits to the country.”

Hurricane misinformation is coming at a dangerous time. Technology to start or steer hurricanes exists only in science fiction, not reality. But that doesn’t mean humans don’t shape extreme weather in another way: by burning fossil fuels and emitting greenhouse gases. Climate scientist Andra Garner says that “this is where we need to focus our conversation — on understanding how climate change is making these extremes more dangerous, learning what we can do to limit further warming, and identifying ways to solve this human-caused crisis.”

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• Harry Litman: Elon Musk’s voter lottery looks illegal. Too bad he’ll probably get away with it

From guest contributors

• Two extraordinary memoirs chronicle the ways mental illness carves chasms in a life
• The restaurant lover’s guide to picking a president

From the Editorial Board

• Three strikes is back on the ballot — in Proposition 36 and D.A. race
• Robert Roberson death penalty case in Texas has turned into a horrific circus

Letters to the Editor

• “Gutted”: Readers react to The Times’ non-endorsement in the presidential race
• Defeating Trump isn’t enough. No Republican deserves to win
• No, the polls didn’t predict Hillary Clinton would win in 2016