Source: the Philadelphia Inquirer
by Will Bunch
“A lot of language that never used to be part of America’s political discourse has come into vogue since January 20. Like ‘Rubicon,’ that ancient Roman river that’s come to symbolize a divide between democracy and dictatorship, and has been crossed more times lately than the Hudson on a busy Monday-morning rush hour. Or this one: ‘Reichstag Fire.’ On February 27, 1933, less than a month after Adolf Hitler was named Germany’s chancellor, an alleged arson fire destroyed much of the nation’s legislative building in Berlin, the Reichstag. A Dutch Communist was blamed for the blaze, which sparked the ruling Nazis to implement the Reichstag Fire Decree, expelling leftist lawmakers and sending political foes to newly created concentration camps.” (10/29/25)