American Hitler
During Donald Trump’s inauguration speech, U.S. Sen. John Mccain recited the names of dictators like Adolf Hitler, reported Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Yes, Trump is much like “the Fuhrer.”
Both demanded loyalty to themselves, not to the nation or its institutions. Hitler ordered all German soldiers to swear an oath of loyalty to him personally. Trump asked former FBI Director James Comey if he was loyal to him, not to the FBI or the nation. Trump expects his attorneys general to be toadies. Governance is replaced by a cult of personality.
Both have demonized and degraded entire peoples: Hitler had his Jews and other “subhumans.” Trump has used “The Snake” poem to stoke an irrational hatred of allegedly subhuman immigrants. Former White House advisor Omarosa Manigault Newman says there are tapes of Trump using the N-word.
Both were/are vicious and cruel: The Nazis were ruthless, sadistic. Trump wanted to build a moat on the southern border filled with alligators and poisonous snakes. Angry at the World Health Organization, Trump has ended its U.S. funding, sentencing thousands to unnecessary suffering and death. Like Hitler, Trump is a menacing bully.
Both were/are obsessed with projecting toughness and being the “strong man,” both thought/think their opponents “weak.” Hitler branded the Allied democracies “weak.” Trump claims the same of Jeff Sessions and Joe Biden.
Both were initially elected, yet both have scorned democracy and hated the free press. Hitler despised democracy. Fearing the coming election, Trump is undermining our electoral process by sabotaging the post office and eliminating polling stations. Hitler and his propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels wanted a brainwashed nation, absent free speech and critical thinking. Trump calls the press the “enemy of the people,” encourages violence against journalists, and demands utter syncopation.
Both used/use thugs to control the streets, intimidate citizens and crush protest: Hitler had his Brownshirts; Trump has his Proud Boys, racist cops, and special federal troops.
Hitler had his Beer
Hall putsch; Trump talks of remaining in office even if he loses and is now often openly calling for his supporters to overturn a potential Biden victory.
Both were/are vindictive and murderous towards opponents. Hitler was rabid; all his foes were arrested and died in concentration camps. Trump takes everything personally, is bitter and enraged. On Oct. 9, Democracynow! reported: “Throughout the day, Trump continued to lash out against his political opponents on Twitter, demanding that Attorney General William Barr lock up Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, and Joe Biden.”
Both wanted/want to kill their enemies en masse: Hitler murdered millions; Trump wanted COVID-19 aid withheld from blue states, implying murderous intent. He retweeted: “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”
Both were/are strident national chauvinists who believed/believe their countries “master” nations destined to dominate others. Hitler screamed: “Deutschland! Deutschland! Deutschland!” Trump kisses the flag and blusters about “America first,” something John Mccain called “a half-baked, spurious nationalism.”
Hitler had his Reichstag Fire, violence he likely encouraged better to bring “law and order” to a nation seemingly spinning out of control. Trump supporters have been alleging anti-fascists are behind Oregon forest fires. A windowsmashing Minneapolis protestor, known as the Umbrella Man, has turned out to be a far-rightist posing as an anti-fascist. Thus, a desperate far right is now engaging in wild scapegoating, disinformation-based hysteria, and agent-provocateur behavior designed to panic and destabilize the nation.
Hitler claimed to be saving Western civilization. At the GOP convention, an acolyte described Trump as the “bodyguard” of Western civilization.
Trump said: “I’m the only thing standing between the American dream and total anarchy, madness, and chaos.”
Also, Trump’s father, arrested in a 1927 Ku Klux Klan riot in Queens, was brazenly racist and is described by OpedNews.com as “a bona fide believer in Aryan supremacy during the 1920s.” Like many East Coast German-Americans at the time, he was most likely a member of the Bund — a Fifth Column, pro-nazi group controlled by Berlin and engaged in espionage.
In a 1990 Vanity Fair profile of Donald and wife, Marie Brenner reported: “Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler’s collected speeches, ‘My New Order,’ which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed.” Trump denies this, but Brenner also reports that a close cousin, John Walter, regularly greets Donald Trump with “Heil Hitler.”
Leaving the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Ben Franklin was asked what kind of nation the founders had just created. His response: “A republic, if you can keep it.” Let’s be certain we do.