Can Biden find light in the dark heart of America?

US President Joe Biden moving into the White House will be one of modern history’s most enduring images.

Only hours earlier Donald Trump had occupied the same space, just as he had done for the past four years.

Despite all the security fears and threats of a right-wing uprising, Wednesday’s changing of the guard happened quickly and with a minimum of fuss. In the end it was as simple as one man walking out the door and another walking in.

But there is no blank canvas for Biden.

He and the newly-minted vice-president, Kamala Harris, inherit the leadership of a country deeply divided by conspiracy and mistrust. Trump’s legacy is one of speaking to the dark heart of America, and its beat is as strong as ever.

Not two weeks ago, Trump supporters stormed Washington’s Capitol building in a last-ditch effort to prevent Biden from taking office. Those involved were extremists and Trump loyalists were quick to dismiss them as such as they clawed at excuses to distance themselves from the insurrection.

Yet despite all the talk of crazy, gun-toting yahoos, these people were among Trump’s support base, and there were and are far more of them than those who broke into the Capitol. The fact is they have always been there, waiting for the right moment to surface and impose their will and brand of nationhood on the US.

Among the insurrectionists on January 6 was a man wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the words Camp Auschwitz, a clear message to the world of anti-Semitism and a despicable celebration of the Holocaust.

It would be easy to dismiss this man as a lone wolf drunk on the Kool-Aid of hatred. But on the dark web and in encrypted chat rooms lurk scores of people espousing this ideology. Maybe too small a group to have an impact on their own, but given the right circumstances and person in charge, an attack on a symbol of American democracy would be the least of the world’s concerns.

As an illustration of just how far back these elements go, on February 20 1939, 20,000 Americans crammed into New York’s famed Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism in Germany.

It was a story filmmaker Marshall Curry had never heard before, but one that disturbed him greatly.

After learning more, he discovered that footage of the event existed, and while clips had been used in historical documentaries before, no-one had ever bothered to piece them together.

He took that task upon himself and in 2019 A Night at the Garden was nominated for an Academy Award in the Best Documentary Short category.

Between the Capitol uprising and Biden’s inauguration this week, the film began to pick up some chatter on news aggregation platforms and websites. With so many wondering what the psychological make-up of those who stormed the building might be, they looked to history to provide the answers.

The film is easily accessible on the internet, with any number of sites carrying it.

As short as it may be, the impact is as immense as it is chilling.

The footage is largely of a speech by pro-Nazi activist Fritz Kuhn. Draped in the background behind the podium is a giant banner displaying the image of George Washington, a founding father of America. On either side, American flags and swastikas.

The presence of his portrait is deliberate. It seeks to convince the audience that the ideals of Nazism  go hand-in-hand with what it means to be a true American.

With his hands clasped behind his back, his frame bolt upright, Kuhn begins: “Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Americans, American patriots, I am sure I do not come before you tonight as a complete stranger. You all have heard of me, through the Jewish-controlled press, as a creature with horns, a cloven hoof and a long tail.

“We, with American ideals, demand that our government shall be returned to the American people who founded it. If you ask what we are actively fighting for under our charter, first, a socially just, white Gentile-ruled US. Second, Gentile-controlled labour unions free from Moscow Jewish-directed domination.”

At this point in the film, a protester invades the stage. He immediately is swamped by uniformed Nazi sympathisers who cause him to fall off the platform, losing his trousers in the process.

New York police officers assist in the humiliation as cheers ring out in the crowd. Nazi salutes are given on more than one occasion.

The parallels between Kuhn’s words and those of Trump at the peak of his powers are unmistakable, the only difference being Trump had a great affinity for Russia for reasons that are all too clear.

It could be argued that Trump’s sound relationship with Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu excluded him from anti-Semitism, but this carries little water.

In a Trump election campaign advertisement in 2016, three Jewish men appear together with images of Hillary Clinton, his rival for the presidency. Trump’s words echo through the segment.

“It’s a global power structure that is responsible for the economic decisions that have robbed our working class, stripped our country of its wealth and put that money into the pockets of a handful of large corporations and political entities.” 

Many Jewish Americans turned their backs on Trump in the wake the advertisement and a tweet in which Clinton’s image was placed alongside a Star of David.

Perhaps the most shocking aspect of A Night at the Garden is what is not seen.

In an interview to promote the short, filmmaker Curry said in a part of Fritz Kuhn’s speech that was not in the film, he applauded a Father Coughlin, whose radio shows praising Hitler and Mussolini reached audiences of 30 million Americans.

“Henry Ford and Charles Lindbergh expressed anti-Semitic beliefs. And press magnate William Randolph Hearst declared, ‘Whenever you hear a prominent American called a fascist, you can usually make up your mind that the man is simply a loyal citizen who stands for Americanism’.”

Biden and Harris are only days into the honeymoon of their presidency and are telling all who care to listen they can bring unity to their country.

It may not be a message everyone wants to hear.