Long before the creation of ghettos and concentration camps, the demonization of Jews began in 1933 when Germany elected Adolf Hitler as Chancellor.  Following his election, Hitler created a fascist dictatorship which eventually led to the Holocaust and the extermination of six million Jews whose only crime was their Jewish identity. The dehumanization of Jews was a necessary requirement for Hitler and his fellow Nazis and they did so with a campaign of demonization, ridicule, and blame.  Hitler's election provided Germans a daily dose of anti-Semitism and gave it legitimacy while providing a rationalization for the extermination of six million Jews.

The persecution of European Jewry was gradual.  At first Jews were no longer welcome at schools and universities.  Later, they were no longer able to own their businesses and homes. With time, public transportation was unavailable to them, public restrooms were forbidden, hospitals excluded them and eventually they were no longer able to use public streets or go outdoors.  They were complete outcasts in a land they called home.  By the time the crematoriums were running, Jews were no longer viewed as humans, but as vermin to be stamped out for the good of humanity.  

Today, the election of Donald Trump to the Presidency has provoked the fascist Left to reject the election results.  Taking a page from Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radials, in which Alinsky advised his followers in Rule 13 to "pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it," the Left is now resorting to the fascist tactics of targeting Conservatives much like the Nazis who targeted European Jewry for their economic and social ills.  Conservatives and Trump supporters are reluctant to identify themselves and conceal their support for fear of a backlash from the Leftist elites.

From the Berkeley riots to Black Lives Matters marches it is not safe to be a conservative Trump supporter on American streets and college campuses. 

Unbelievably, key political leaders on the left egg on their fellow leftists and advocate the use of violence against Conservatives.   Former Attorney General Loretta Lynch stated:  

"…it has been people, individuals who have banded together, ordinary people who simply saw what needed to be done and came together and supported those ideals who have made the difference. They’ve marched, they’ve bled and yes, some of them died. This is hard. Every good thing is. We have done this before. We can do this again.”  

Recently, former Vice Presidential candidate Tim Kaine stated,

"…what we've got to do is fight in congress, fight in the courts, fight in the streets, fight online, fight at the ballot box, and now there is a momentum to be able to do this."

 Their followers are listening and taking heed.  It was only a few days ago that talk show host Michael Savage, a huge Trump supporter, was violently assaulted outside a Marin County restaurant by a man who clearly did not like his politics.  Recently, a dispatcher at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse was fired for defending Trump's Executive Order, and UCLA is offering a seminar by a clinical psychologist to diagnose President's Trump's mental capacity.  Such occurrences as these are matter of fact in fascist Third World dictatorships.  They should not be routine in the land of the free.  Yet, with each passing year, it is becoming much more difficult to be free if one is a Conservative.

The mainstream establishment media, which is no longer an unbiased source of information, has become the mouthpiece for the Democratic Left.  They give voice, legitimacy, and cover  while Conservatives are smeared as bigots, homophobes, racists, and fascists.  It advances a narrative which it hopes will lead to the delegitimization of President Trump and his eventual impeachment.

Thus, it is Conservatives who are blamed and smeared for ruining the environment, for Wall Street greed, for maintaining Judeo/Christian biblical values, and for seeking to preserve our culture, language, and sovereignty.  Conservative speakers are no longer welcome on college campuses much as Jews were no longer welcome at German universities decades ago.  Conservatives have become caricatures and are subjected to ridicule on American television and in newspapers.  The marketplace of ideas is verbotten among many of the institutions that are now controlled by the Left.  Instead of a free marketplace of ideas, we have a fascist political thought police that takes Conservatives to task for crossing the acceptable political and social gibberish designed by the Left.

Our institutions, media, and Hollywood define our culture.  They have created a climate of hate that threatens the exercise of free speech for Conservatives as well as for their safety.  Given the hostile environment created by the Left with the aid of the media, is it any wonder that elderly Trump supporters were recently beaten up at a Trump rally in California or that Conservatives are afraid to wear any memorabilia that would identify them as Trump supporters.  In today’s America, Conservatives are branded, targeted, ridiculed and punished for their beliefs much as the Jews were targeted and persecuted in pre-Holocaust Europe.    

The past should have taught us the danger of vilifying fellow citizens.   But in today's America, Conservatives are the new Jews to be ridiculed, shamed and ostracized.  We know where that road led to in the past.  Do we really want to go down that road again?

Shari Goodman is an educator, activist, and journalist.  Her commentaries have appeared in American Thinker, World Net Daily, Israel Today, and various other publications.  She is a red dot in the blue state of California.