The recent deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles and the District of Columbia to address evident violent crime and property damage has led to its members being characterized by some critics on the Left as “Trump’s Stormtroopers,” in clear allusion and equivalence to those angry Brown-shirted unemployed war veterans, bar brawling Nazi party members of 1930s Germany, who took oath to do the work of Adolph Hitler and, for example, illegally bashed the heads of Communists, and killed them on the streets, burned books they did not like at the Universities, and terrorized Jewish shopkeepers in the sadistic early Holocaust program known as “Kristallnacht.” These characterizations, including by some Democratic friends of mine here in California, cannot and must not be taken seriously. Calling these National Guard members “Stormtroopers” is not only wildly inaccurate, it does a grave disservice to history, and to those who actually suffered at the brutality of Hitler’s war machine and actual henchman and enforcers in Nazi Germany.

What is a “Stormtrooper?” In modern understanding, it is a character out of the “Star Wars” movies, a highly trained, elite shock trooper loyal to the Galactic Empire, identifiable by their distinctive white armor. They are the primary military force of the Empire and are known for their imposing appearance and supposed unwavering loyalty to the Emperor. But in historical context, a “Stormtrooper” refers to elite German shock troops, particularly those within the Waffen SS. These soldiers were trained in infiltration tactics and were used to spearhead attacks, exploiting weaknesses in enemy lines. While there wasn’t a single official stormtrooper regiment, various elite units within the Waffen SS and other branches of the German military adopted these tactics during the war. It is also a term used colloquially to describe Hitler’s roving Nazi thugs in political street battles as he was coming to power.

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