Former US president Donald Trump addressing a rally in Waco, Texas as part of his 2024 election campaign. Photo: AP

So, now it begins. Donald Trump held his first rally of his campaign for the presidency at the weekend. His choice of launching? Waco, Texas.

His campaign said it was chosen because it was Trump heartland and was close to major Texan cities. This may be true. But it is also the site of the Waco siege 30 years ago in which 80 members of the cult the Branch Davidians died (and four federal agents). The event has become a touchstone for far-right groups.

So Trump came with his lies, his righteous indignation, his fury and rage at all those who had done him wrong. But he also came with violence in his heart. It showed in the orchestration of the setting, it came through his use of language. It came whistling up from the winds of time, from a 100 years ago when an incalculably larger figure of history was beginning his road to seizing power, young Adolf Hitler. There is no equivalence between the two. One was responsible for a world war and the Holocaust, in which tens of millions died. The other is just lustful for power.

But it is hard to ignore the parallels in the choreography of the pursuit of power.

Trump’s Waco rally opened to a backdrop of the criminals who have been found guilty of the January 6 insurrection. This was an assault on the heart of American democracy, the Capitol, urged on by Trump after his election loss, a loss he still refuses to concede.

The rally opened with the song “Justice for All”. Footage of the insurrection was played. This, as an introduction to a man who wants to be president again. He railed against the system that put these loyal supporters in jail. He, in effect, made martyrs of their actions, and his cause. This is straight out of the Hitler playbook.

When Hitler was on trial for treason after the Munich putsch, he evoked those followers of his who had died in the attempted government takeover as heroes: “An event has not occurred in Germany since 1918 happened on that day; joyfully, young men went forth to death, to a death which one day will be hailed like the saying on the Obelisk: They too died for the liberation of the Fatherland.

“That is the most obvious sign of the success of that 8 November: for afterwards, the German people were not more depressed, but rather a wave of young Germany rose up, and joining together everywhere, and in powerful organisations, announced their new-found will. Thus we see in this 8 November a great triumph.”

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Before the putsch Hitler had seen himself as no more than “a drummer and rallier”. He found his voice as an orator to the masses, and he also became, according to historian Sir Ian Kershaw, the head of a movement that developed “its own substantial paramilitary force”.

There is a line here spanning a century of concept and incitement. What was on sale at the Waco rally, but t-shirts with the slogan, “God, Guns and Trump” and “Trump Won”. Even allowing for there being more guns in America than people, here is the context. This is the first rally in someone wanting to be the next president, again, and it features a suspension of reality (the election result), the elevation of criminals, violence and guns.

His speech was an exhortation in narcissist grievance dressed up as patriotism projected onto others.

He shot out those grievances. “The Biden regime’s weaponisation of law enforcement against their political opponents is something straight out of the Stalinist Russia horror show. From the beginning it’s been one witch hunt and phony investigation after another.

“You will be vindicated and proud. The thugs and criminals who are corrupting our justice system will be defeated, discredited and totally disgraced.

“Enemies are desperate to stop us. Our opponents have done everything they can to crush our spirit and to break our will. But they failed. They’ve only made us stronger.”

And for good measure, he brought in the apocalypse. “And 2024 is the final battle, it’s going to be the big one. You put me back in the White House, their reign will be over and America will be a free nation once again.”

Trump is facing numerous legal probes, but he told the rally he was “the most innocent man in the history of our country”.

Before the rally, he posted of “potential death & destruction” if he was charged over the Stormy Daniels hush money probe.

In the words are the man. What is the worthiness Trump will bring to the office of president? Americans voted him out last time around. Surely, after four years without him in the Oval Office, they can see even more clearly now.

SIDEBAR TO LUNACY

Ted Nugent once gave the world one of the catchiest guitar riffs in “Cat Scratch Fever”. Seems now he is fevered beyond all sensibility. Nugent is a pro-gun, pro-Trump man. He appeared at the rally, and played the Star Spangled Banner.

He also said this: “I am a guitar player, I have a couple of demands. Secure my border. I have a couple of really good ideas: give me my tax dollars back. I didn’t authorise killing babies at Planned Parenthood … I want my money back. I didn’t authorise any money to Ukraine to some homosexual weirdo.”

The crowd cheered.