FTR#265—“Dracula for President!” (Part 2), “Forward Into the Past”—(Two 30-minute segments) (Sources are noted in parentheses.)

1. Comparing elements of commonality between the Iron Guard (the Romanian fascist movement of the 1930’s and 40’s) and the Republican Party of the United States, this broadcast highlights the use of brownshirt tactics in American politics. (For more on the Iron Guard, see also: RFA#’s 2, 36, 37, Miscellaneous Archive Show M24, and FTR#’s 29, 113, 221, 222, 262.)

2. The program begins with review of a favorable comparison made between Romanian far-right leader Corneiliu Tudor and Prince Vlad Tepes (“Vlad the Impaler”.)

3. One of Tudor’s supporters compared him with the 15^th century Romanian prince, the role model for the Dracula legend. (“Greater Romania Rhetoric Finds a Ready Audience” by Phelim McAleer; Financial Times; 11/24/2000; p. 2.)

4. Much of Tudor’s political agenda centers around bigotry directed against Jews, Gypsies and the Hungarian minority in Romania. (Idem.)

5. In this regard, Tudor’s politics are similar to the Iron Guard. Tudor’s supporters have also compared him favorably to the Guardists. (“Romanian Right Feeds on Middle Class Fears” by Stefan Wagstyl and Phelim McAleer; Financial Times; 11/29/2000; p. 2.)

6. The broadcast then highlights the career of Iron Guard leader Viorel Trifa. Trifa led a brutal pogrom in Bucharest in 1941, kicked off by an anti-Semitic speech that he delivered. (Wanted: The Search for Nazis in America; Howard Blum; Quadrangle/The New York Times Book Company; Copyright 1977 [HC]; ISBN 0-8129-0607-1; pp.94-96.)

7. In addition to rabid anti-Semitism, Trifa’s speech attacked the values of the French Revolution, “Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” (Ibid.; p.94.) (A similar denunciation was delivered by Bundeswehr Inspector General Klaus Naumann. Naumann made his statement in a speech to his officers given in the early 1990’s. See also: FTR#50.)

8. Many of the victims of the Trifa-led pogrom were butchered, hung on meat hooks in the municipal slaughterhouse with signs saying “Kosher Meat.” (Ibid.; p. 98.)

9. Next, the program reviews information about the incorporation of European fascist groups (such as the Iron Guard) into the American political and intelligence establishments. One of the central elements in this process of incorporation was an illegal domestic intelligence operation known as the Crusade For Freedom. (See RFA#37, FTR#48.)

10. Illegally importing fascists and war criminals into the United States so that they might become leaders in Eastern European ethnic groups, the CFF was the brainchild of Allen Dulles and administered for him by Richard Nixon. (The Secret War Against the Jews: How Western Espionage Betrayed the Jewish People, by John Loftus and Mark Aarons; St. Martin's Press; copyright 1994; ISBN 0-312-11057-X; p.122.)

11. The State Department machinations bringing these fascists into the United States were handled by William Casey, Reagan’s campaign manager in 1980 and later director of the CIA. (Ibid.; p. 593.)

12. Reagan was the chief spokesman for the CFF. (Idem.)

13. Howard Weaver and Samuel Sloan Walker Jr., two of George H.W. Bush's fellow "bonesmen" (fellow members of the elite Skull and Bones society at Yale), both worked with Allen Dulles' "Fascist Freedom Fighters" program. (Ibid., pp. 592-3.)

14. As head of the Republican National Committee, the elder George Bush oversaw the formal incorporation of this fascist milieu into the Republican Party. (Ibid., pp. 369-70.)

15. As part of the CFF, the VorKommando Moskau (an SS intelligence unit) was settled (complete and intact) in the New York/New Jersey area. (Ibid.; p. 496.)

16. The VorKommando Moskau had performed the mass executions of Jews and other “undesirables” on the Eastern Front during World War II. (Idem.) One of the fascists who found his way to the United States under the CFF was Trifa.

17. Trifa had worked for the Reinhard Gehlen spy outfit near the end of the war. (Wanted: The Search for Nazis in America; p. 116.)

18. Having become the head of the Romanian-American Orthodox congregation after the war, Trifa was invited by then Vice-President Richard Nixon to give the opening prayer before the United States Senate in May of 1955. (Idem.)

19. Trifa had become the head of the Romanian-American Orthodox Episcopate through a violent, brownshirt-style takeover of the Vatra (the church’s headquarters) by some of Trifa’s Iron Guard associates. (Ibid.; pp. 109-110.)

20. The Guardists contended that the church was under the control of the communists, since Romania was part of the Soviet Bloc at the time. (Idem.)

21. Later, Bishop Moldovan’s attempt to regain his position was rejected by the courts. (Ibid.; p. 115.)

22. Much of the rest of the program compares Trifa’s violent ascent to his position as Archbishop and the legal system’s recognition of his takeover with the mob violence utilized by the Republicans in Dade County in November of 2000. A writer for the San Francisco Chronicle characterized the Republican demonstrators in Broward and Dade counties to the Nazi brownshirts. (“See Foot, Shoot Same” by Jon Carroll; San Francisco Chronicle; 11/28/2000; p. E12.)

23. The violent demonstrators succeeded in intimidating the Dade County election officials into halting their recounting of ballots. (“Mob Rule Wins for W” by The Consortium for Independent Journalism; 11/24/2000; available on their website at consortiumnews.com.) Just as an Ohio District Court did in the early 1950’s, the U.S. Supreme Court rewarded the Republicans’ tactics with success.

24. The Supreme Court granted a review to the Bush camp, but not on the equal-protection issue on which the Republicans had asked the court to intervene. (“A failure of Reason” by Anthony Lewis; New York Times; 12/16/2000; p. A31.)

25. The integrity of the Supreme Court’s ruling in favor of Bush was further undermined by the fact that Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife was helping the Heritage Foundation gather resumes for prospective Bush administration appointments. (“Prospective Justices May Face Struggle” by William Carlsen; San Francisco Chronicle; 12/14/2000; p. A16.)

26. In addition, two of Justice Antonin Scalia’s sons worked for the law firm that represented the Bush campaign before both the Florida and U.S. Supreme Courts. (Idem.) (For more on the campaign, see also: FTR#’s 186, 214, 236, 244, 248, 249, 255, 256, 258, 259.) (Recorded on 12/17/2000.)