"He will be one of the boys..."

Yes. Merry Christmas 2016. What's on my mind this morning? How journalists covered the rise of Mussolini & Hitler. I wonder why?

Entering uncharted waters. 

I have a tremendous sense of foreboding. This is where the dark, scary music starts playing, right? The Christmas tree is blinking. The presents have been ripped open. There's a loud rapping on the door. Bare knuckles or a solid gun-stock? There's the sound of boots in the street. And heavy machinery.

That Jagger/Richards song kicks in: "Everywhere I hear the sound of marching, charging feet, boy..."

The Smithsonian - “No people ever recognize their dictator in advance,” she reflected in 1935. “He never stands for election on the platform of dictatorship. He always represents himself as the instrument [of] the Incorporated National Will.” Applying the lesson to the U.S., she wrote, “When our dictator turns up you can depend on it that he will be one of the boys, and he will stand for everything traditionally American.”