Throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump described his opponent, Hillary Clinton, as a criminal and said she should be tried and put in jail (of her guilt, he had no doubt). Commentators at the time noted the extreme nature of such rhetoric and the fact that demands for the investigation and imprisonment of political opponents was alien to the American system. But, they speculated, perhaps it was just that — rhetoric — and with his inauguration as President, he would leave such dangerous talk behind.

It turns out, however, that Trump has proven unable to let go of his obsession with his defeated rival. In early November 2017 — nearly one year after his election victory — he was not only continuing to attack Clinton, but also calling on the FBI and the Justice Department to investigate her. He was “very frustrated” by the fact that he was unable to order those agencies to “go after” his former opponent — something he said he would very much love to do.

Join Independent Minds For exclusive articles, events and an advertising-free read for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent With an Independent Minds subscription for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month Get the best of The Independent Without the ads – for just £5.99 €6.99 $9.99 a month

It was a horrifying moment as the President of the United States, perhaps more clearly than at any previous time, expressed the thoughts and desires of an autocrat. And with the announcement that Attorney General Jeff Sessions will explore the possibility of creating a new special counsel to investigate Hillary Clinton, those thoughts and desires have moved that much closer to being realised.

Such open calls for criminal investigations of political opponents are truly unprecedented in American history — and for good reason, since they would undermine the very foundation of liberal democracy. If the president could order the FBI to investigate Hillary Clinton, where would it stop? Anyone who spoke out to criticise such a brazen act would be vulnerable to the same treatment. And then any individual or any group — regardless of whether they had actually done anything — would be at the mercy of Trump’s politicised justice system. The President would be able to exclude anyone he wished from the national community. The road to dictatorship would be wide open to him. We know this because it was such a system that helped destroy democracy in Germany and helped Hitler establish his Nazi dictatorship.

One of most significant challenges the new Weimar Republic faced was a politicised judicial system — an important element in the weakening of German democracy. One of the key failings of the revolution that toppled the German Empire in 1918 was the failure of the revolutionaries to establish a truly republican judiciary by allowing the judges from the old imperial system to remain on the bench. These were men who’d been trained and established their careers under the old authoritarian system. They had no sympathy for the new liberal, democratic regime. And the verdicts they rendered made this exceedingly clear. Political crimes committed by individuals on the left consistently received longer prison sentences than those committed by people on the right.

Shape Created with Sketch. Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... Show all 27 left Created with Sketch. right Created with Sketch. Shape Created with Sketch. Donald Trump's least presidential moments so far... 1/27 Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The President's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty 2/27 Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the President has faced difficulty in raising the required $5 billion at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and congress' refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty 3/27 Joked about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet on November 13, the President mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars 4/27 Coloured in the US flag wrong The President coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty 5/27 Railing against the Mueller investigation The President has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters 6/27 Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Mr. Trump Getty 7/27 Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the President claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it wouldn't have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters 8/27 Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The President announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson 9/27 Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the President made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters 10/27 Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the President reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Mr. Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape." Reuters 11/27 Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Donald Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?” Reuters 12/27 Asked for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Donald Trump couldn’t help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of “The Apprentice” — which buoyed Mr Trump’s celebrity status years ago Getty 13/27 Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Donald Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the “worst call” he had had so far Getty 14/27 The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administration’s argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty 15/27 Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Donald Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the President picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP 16/27 Calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Donald Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be “little Rocket Man” as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea 17/27 Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Donald Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticizing Mr Khan for saying there was “no reason to be alarmed” after the attack. Mr Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Mr Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty 18/27 Claimed presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Donald Trump mocked MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to “join” him. He noted that she was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” at the time, and that he said no MSNBC 19/27 Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP 20/27 Retweeted cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Donald Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet 21/27 Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Donald Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Mr Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of “fake news” 22/27 Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty 23/27 Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Donald Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Mr Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters 24/27 Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Mr Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters 25/27 Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Donald Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Ms Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) 26/27 Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Donald Trump’s White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didn’t mention “jews” or even the word “jewish” in the written statement Getty 27/27 Anger over Inauguration crowd size Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Mr Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didn’t, the day was very dreary Reuters 1/27 Taking plenty of "Executive Time" The President's official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for "Executive Time". Further intermittent periods of "Executive Time" are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting Getty 2/27 Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the President has faced difficulty in raising the required $5 billion at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and congress' refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history Getty 3/27 Joked about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron In this tweet on November 13, the President mocks Emmanuel Macron's suggestion of a "true, European army" by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars 4/27 Coloured in the US flag wrong The President coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes AFP/Getty 5/27 Railing against the Mueller investigation The President has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a "rigged witch hunt" Reuters 6/27 Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Mr. Trump Getty 7/27 Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling Following furious backlash in the US, the President claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it wouldn't have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment Reuters 8/27 Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter The President announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson 9/27 Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the President made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show "The Apprentice": you're fired! Reuters 10/27 Calling African nations "S***hole Countries" Ever one for diplomacy, the President reportedly referred to African nations as "s***hole countries". Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria's President Buhari, Mr. Trump stated that there are "some countries that are in very bad shape." Reuters 11/27 Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin Donald Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?” Reuters 12/27 Asked for people to 'pray' for Arnold Schwarzenegger At the National Prayer Breakfast, Donald Trump couldn’t help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of “The Apprentice” — which buoyed Mr Trump’s celebrity status years ago Getty 13/27 Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull Early in his presidency, Donald Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the “worst call” he had had so far Getty 14/27 The 'Muslim ban' Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administration’s argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security Getty 15/27 Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Donald Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the President picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there AP 16/27 Calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un 'Little Rocket Man' During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Donald Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be “little Rocket Man” as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea 17/27 Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack After the attack on the London Bridge, Donald Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticizing Mr Khan for saying there was “no reason to be alarmed” after the attack. Mr Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Mr Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control Getty 18/27 Claimed presenter Mika Brezinkski was 'bleeding from the face' Never one not to mock his enemies, Donald Trump mocked MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to “join” him. He noted that she was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” at the time, and that he said no MSNBC 19/27 Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on 'both sides' Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at 'the march for the right' protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer AP 20/27 Retweeted cartoon of CNN being hit by a 'Trump train' Donald Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet 21/27 Tweeting about 'slamming' CNN Donald Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Mr Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of “fake news” 22/27 Firing head of the FBI, James Comey Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop Getty 23/27 Not realising being president would be 'hard' Just three months into his presidency, Donald Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Mr Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire Reuters 24/27 Accusing Obama of wiretapping him Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Mr Obama had not, in fact, done so Reuters 25/27 Claiming there had been 3 million 'illegal votes' Donald Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Ms Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.) 26/27 Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement Just days after taking office, Donald Trump’s White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didn’t mention “jews” or even the word “jewish” in the written statement Getty 27/27 Anger over Inauguration crowd size Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever. Relatedly, Mr Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didn’t, the day was very dreary Reuters

The best-known example of this skewed system of justice is the case of Adolf Hitler. Arrested in 1923 after having attempted to overthrow the government, he was tried and convicted of treason. The conservative judge sympathised with the young Nazi leader’s goal, if not with his methods, and therefore sentenced him to a mere five years in a rather comfortable prison. He would end up serving only nine months.

A justice system that openly flouted the republic’s liberal, democratic values seriously undermined the government’s legitimacy and gave hope to those who continued to work for its destruction. In less than a decade, the battered republic would succumb, thanks in no small measure to the aid and comfort provided to the forces of the right by a politicised illiberal, anti-democratic system of justice. Under Hitler, the justice system became a tool for the establishment of his dictatorship and for the policies of exclusion he pursued.

Immediately after coming to power, Adolf Hitler targeted his main political opponents: the German Communist Party. With his fellow Nazi Hermann Goering heading the Interior Ministry, members of the SA were now deputised as auxiliary police and, along with the traditional police forces, tasked with the assault on Germany’s communists. Storm Troopers attacked communists in the streets, arrested them, and brought them to makeshift jails where they beat, tortured, and sometimes killed them.

After the communists, it was the Socialists’ turn to experience Hitler’s brand of justice. Those not beaten or tortured to death were driven underground, into exile, or were sent to the new concentration camps being built and operated by the SS.

To the new Chancellor, the communists and socialists were not simply political opponents. They were enemies, traitors who had already betrayed the nation in the First World War and toppled the old regime in revolution. As a result, those who participated in this bloody state-sponsored rampage would face no legal consequences. Not only that, but “enemies” accused of crimes could face punishments far more severe than the law would normally allow.

The man accused of setting the Reichstag building ablaze as the first step in a communist uprising, for example, should have faced a straightforward prison sentence. But Hitler’s desire for what he considered justice led him to pressure the Justice Minister Franz Gürtner (also a judicial holdover from the Empire) to write a new law — an ex post facto law that made the alleged arsonist’s crime a capital offense.

Hitler had begun to subvert the law to serve his political goals. Police and judicial authority had to be subordinated to the will of the leader. A politicised justice system would allow him to target and eliminate any and all groups he considered outside the bounds of the German national community.

One of the most important steps for any would-be autocrat is to gain control of the justice system and turn it into a tool for the elimination of any and all opposition. Normally that’s something that Americans observe from a distance — in the pages of history books or newspapers telling of coups and show trials and the exiling or execution of political challengers in some distant country or from some other period. Perhaps such distance has lulled Americans into a false sense of security. That’s something that only happens “over there,” or “back in those times.” The American tradition of liberalism and democracy will protect us. We’re exceptional.

But it’s precisely that self-confidence — more like self-delusion — that can work to Donald Trump’s advantage. His clearly anti-democratic statements and wishes can be shrugged off as mere rhetoric. How many people early on dismissed Hitler as a buffoon? How many people doubted he’d last any longer in office than his two most recent predecessors?

Far more quickly than anyone would have imagined possible — helped greatly by the unforeseen Reichstag fire — Hitler had succeeded in bending the courts and the police to his will. By that point it was too late. German democracy was not destroyed in a coup or a violent revolution. It was undermined from within. Circumstance and Hitler’s determination did the rest.

Richard E Frankel is associate professor of modern German history at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the author of Bismarck's Shadow. This piece originally appeared on History News Network

We’ll tell you what’s true. You can form your own view.

At The Independent, no one tells us what to write. That’s why, in an era of political lies and Brexit bias, more readers are turning to an independent source. Subscribe from just 15p a day for extra exclusives, events and ebooks – all with no ads.

Subscribe now