There has been a lot of hysteria comparing President Trump to Chancellor Hitler. They could not be more unlike. Hitler rose to power, in large part, by privately promising various factions what they wanted to hear and then betraying them all once in power. Trump PUBLICLY promised his base what they wanted to hear, then betrayed them. Hitler rose to power in response to a cratered economy, then used preparations for war to rebuild it. Trump took an economy that was “the envy of the world” and cratered it. Hitler forged alliances by supporting and persuading his allies. Trump attacks allies and discards alliances. Hitler took a nearly non-existent military and built a world-threatening force. Trump took the world’s best military and kneecapped it. Hitler’s demagoguery touted the Teutonic “master race.” Trump’s demagoguery includes all white people… well, white men. Hitler consolidated power by destroying democratic institutions brutally. Trump only managed to jumble them up, then try to restore them in a slipshod way. Hitler demanded loyalty but punished incompetence. Trump demands loyalty but seems to prize incompetence. Trump is a life-long womanizer, and, if what the women in his life are saying is true, an abuser. Hitler famously avoided women. There is no evidence that he ever consummated his relationship with his mistress, Eva Braun, or his teen-age crush, Stafanie Rabatch.
Then there is the elephant in the room—Hitler wanted to annihilate the Jews. Some of Trump’s best friends are Jews. His daughter even married one. Of course, he speaks well of neo-Nazi demonstrators, rabidly antisemitic podcasters, and used antisemitic tropes, so maybe he is trying to be on both sides of the issue — something that Hitler would have scorned to do.
Hitler used Brownshirts to use violent force to get his way; Trump uses MAGA Red Caps, a clearly different approach (it is much easier to doff a cap if confronted by law enforcement than a shirt).
All in all, the differences between Trump and Hitler are much greater than their similarities. The only things they really have in common are the avoidance of alcohol, the need for absolute power, and the willingness to crush dissent to get it.
Bill Gillmore
Columbus
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