‘Is Paris burning?’ asked Hitler. In 1944, it wasn’t; in 2026, it is.

Andrea Widburg

"In Germany, high school students protesting for better education look very different. Somehow, they all grew beards, shouted 'Allah is great,' and waved the Palestinian flag."

"June 6, 1944, marked the beginning of the end for the Nazi’s dominance across Europe. By August 1944, the Allies were heading to Paris, one of the crown jewels in Hitler’s European conquest. Hitler planned to hold Paris but, failing that, he wanted the Allies to suffer a Pyrrhic victory. To that end, he ordered General Dietrich von Choltitz to leave behind “nothing but a field of ruins.” The Nazis would completely destroy Paris, leaving nothing but scorched earth.

"What Hitler hadn’t counted on was that von Choltitz (according to his own reminiscences) couldn’t make himself follow that final order. As it became clear that an Allied victory was imminent, he reportedly said to his military operations chief, General Alfred Jodl, “Jodl! I demand to know! Yes or no? Is Paris burning now?”

"Well, Paris was not burning then. Whether von Choltitz was the hero he claimed himself to be or the Nazis just didn’t have the time, the men, and the supplies to destroy the historical city is unclear. What’s clear is that the city survived.

"It’s less clear whether the city will survive the current iteration of the Nazis: A fanatical alliance of socialism and antisemitism that is assiduously destroying Paris from the inside out. The barbarians are inside the gates, and the French willingly invited them...and now seem unable to stop them.

"Nor have the fires been limited to Paris. As a general matter, the same modern Nazi forces (the true “Neo-Nazis,” if you will) are systematically using the weekends to destroy Europe’s ancient cities, one by one—and in each case, they do so with relative ease because the nations invited the barbarians and are now afraid to challenge them." . . . And they elected a mayor in New York. . . .

. . . If you’ve still been holding your nose about whether to vote for Republicans in this election, knowing that too many are weak quislings, reframe the issue for yourself: Acting out of pique, do I want to allow the Democrats to render Trump impotent for the last two years of his presidency, potentially paving the way for a President AOC in 2028, or do I want an ascendant Trump* in the White House to protect America from a nuclear Europe with its weapons aimed at us? Do you honestly want this image to sum up the last time we saw Paris?" . . . More.

*Made more difficult now by his verbal abuse of the Reuters reporter over a routine question. TD