Hitler was more extreme on his racial views, no doubt. But, he also didn't start out with the final solution. Nazis first looked at ways to effect a mass deportation of undesirables (to Madagascar or some other remote corner). I don't have to tell you who that sounds like. I can appreciate reservations about comparing everybody to the Nazis. The danger on the other side is to refuse to learn from history by glibly dismissing all comparisons to the Nazis as impossible or disproportionate. Even imperfect comparisons, if you can take care to understand them correctly, can be useful for learning and guidance.
My favorite instance of this happening was when I was talking to a co-worker about The Big Short. I enjoyed the film and we both work in the mortgage banking industry so I was just talking about how I found it especially interesting. She retorted that she loved it, but it bothered her that they blamed the whole housing collapse on Bush when really it was Obama, while he was representing ACORN, that was to blame. I immediately stopped the conversation. First of all, I don't remember the name BUSH or OBAMA appearing even once in that movie. Secondly, even if he was the lead attorney for ACORN for 50 years before he took public office (he was nothing close to that), how would/could that have contributed AT ALL to the housing collapse of 2008? BOGGLES THE MIND...
To me, if we're going to compare Trump to a WWII madman, I'd say he's more Mussolini than Hitler. Hitler was a psychotic maniac. Mussolini was an arrogant strongman who made the fateful decision of tying his fate to Hitler during WWII. (well that and stupidly invading Ethiopia) Both were horrible people but Trump's persona and policies are more Mussolini than Hitler.
That's interesting B-bob! As a student of the period between 1919-1945 in Germany, I'd like to hear more about your publications. And don't get me wrong, I'm certainly no fan of Trump. I appreciate your viewpoint and concerns over Trump. I'd be less than honest if some of the concerns you espouse weren't mine as well. I do however get concerned when political rhetoric rises to a level where folks stop listening to each other, throw out bombshell statements, and begin to consider their fellow americans the enemy. Thanks for your measured and reasoned response.
i'd agree that mussolini is a more apt comparison than hitler, but it's mindbottling that this conversation is even happening. he's tapping into a lot of dark and deep-seeded emotions of a large swath of the populous who has somehow been led to believe that everything is terrible and there are easy scapegoats on which to place the blame. nevermind that he's provided almost no real solutions to anything, just soundbite after soundbite.
The situations were different. Germany was in dire straits and overt racism was common in Germany leading up to Hitler. Also, Hitler and the NAZI party at first was very fond of sending Jews out of Europe, but the USA and other areas (including the Middle East) would only take a limited number. The Final Solution was not always the road map for the Nazi party. Further, the Communists were very violent, just poorly organized as they often spilled into the Anarchists. The rhetoric of Trump is toned down, but it would be, we are not in the situation Germany was in the 1920's. The reality is that the rhetoric and political instincts of Adolf Hitler were extremely successful, and Donald Trump has studied Hitler. You can see similarities in how Hitler was betrayed in the German media, with how Trump is. There are similarities in the arguments against the viability of Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump; claiming neither will ever have the majority of support needed to rule. Does that mean Hitler and Trump are the same? No, but to not be aware of the strategic similarities is willfully ignorant. It is similar to what the extreme left does, disregarding facts that do not fit their narrative. It is dangerous. Take a step back. When was the last time that a candidate, the leading candidate for one of the major parties has actively campaigned for what Trump has campaigned for, or said the things Trump has said? There are consequences for what our leaders say. Donald Trump shouldn't have his rallies unnecessarily interrupted. However it shouldn't be shocking. Unless voters show that they will not stand for it, the style of campaigning will be emulated. Success is emulated in politics. The Republican Party should be damn ashamed. A sizable amount of Republican voters are support the behavior of Donald Trump. This is the absolute worse I have seen a major American political party I have seen in my lifetime. Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush and Bob Dole wouldn't allow this ****.
Thanks for taking it in the right spirit (and for calling me with Godwin's law, which was totally appropriate and made me rightfully cringe). I'll try to send you a message about something I wrote -- it's from the point of view of scientists who were at the peak of their profession and then had to figure out what to do (leave? play along? just keep working and ignore it all?) when Hitler came to power. A lot's been written about it. But at any rate I had to really understand step by step what was happening better than I ever planned to understand it... not very fun. And I like the points about Mussolini people have made. Hitler was really part of an organization and not necessarily the puppet master during his rise, not simply a cult of personality alone.
I'll grant that. Remember why the comparison was being made (in this case). B-Bob was comparing the justifications for violence that Trump is offering now to the justifications the Nazis had offered in 1933. Mussolini behaved in a similar fashion, but people are much more familiar with the Nazis. In the Nazi case, Hitler was able to create ambiguity about who was the aggressor in these skirmishes, and provided plausible deniability for perpetrators of violence that allowed his Party to continue to gain popularity and power. From the scholarship of historical example, we can see how this same strategy will probably work for Trump -- there will continue to be violence between Trump supporters and protesters the cause of which people sympathetic to Trump will ascribe to these protesting thugs and will not only excuse Trump supporters and Trump himself, but will become more allied to Trump in opposition to this supposed threat which will empower him to ramp up his rhetoric to forcefully oppose protesters. The opposition will have a similar reaction to create a vicious cycle. This does not mean that Trump will eventually go on to exterminate millions of hispanics and muslims. But, it is a relevant historical example that tells us this strategy of polarizing citizens with violence while providing plausible deniability has worked to discredit opposition and increase one's popularity.
<blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-version="6" style=" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:658px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);"><div style="padding:8px;"> <div style=" background:#F8F8F8; line-height:0; margin-top:40px; padding:28.125% 0; text-align:center; width:100%;"> <div style=" background:url(data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAACwAAAAsCAMAAAApWqozAAAAGFBMVEUiIiI9PT0eHh4gIB4hIBkcHBwcHBwcHBydr+JQAAAACHRSTlMABA4YHyQsM5jtaMwAAADfSURBVDjL7ZVBEgMhCAQBAf//42xcNbpAqakcM0ftUmFAAIBE81IqBJdS3lS6zs3bIpB9WED3YYXFPmHRfT8sgyrCP1x8uEUxLMzNWElFOYCV6mHWWwMzdPEKHlhLw7NWJqkHc4uIZphavDzA2JPzUDsBZziNae2S6owH8xPmX8G7zzgKEOPUoYHvGz1TBCxMkd3kwNVbU0gKHkx+iZILf77IofhrY1nYFnB/lQPb79drWOyJVa/DAvg9B/rLB4cC+Nqgdz/TvBbBnr6GBReqn/nRmDgaQEej7WhonozjF+Y2I/fZou/qAAAAAElFTkSuQmCC); display:block; height:44px; margin:0 auto -44px; position:relative; top:-22px; width:44px;"></div></div> <p style=" margin:8px 0 0 0; padding:0 4px;"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BDBS8bYGhWr/" style=" color:#000; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none; word-wrap:break-word;" target="_blank">Is this what we want for a President?</a></p> <p style=" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;">A video posted by Donald J. Trump (@realdonaldtrump) on <time style=" font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px;" datetime="2016-03-16T16:15:12+00:00">Mar 16, 2016 at 9:15am PDT</time></p></div></blockquote> <script async defer src="//platform.instagram.com/en_US/embeds.js"></script>
My favorite part of the video is how right after it says we don't need to be a punchline his name pops into the screen in big bold white letters lol
yikes, thats an all time low for a candidate. Referring to a opponent as a dog barking? Seriously? Jesus this guy has no fkin chance with the independent votes.
Between the shady land deals and multiple affairs; he's everything an eight-figure omni-jurisdictional prosecution and book-deal shopping wiretapping harpie tried to dredge up about Clinton.
Lmao I was thinking the exact same thing. If that's the platform he's gonna run on, he's ****ed. He isn't even the president and he's already an embarrassment.
why does everyone take trump at his word 100% but don't hold anyone else, especially obama and hilary, to that same standard?
We do. But you can compile the stupid things Obama and Hilary have said into a senior high school-length term paper. For Trump, you would need to compile the length of a Masters thesis and Doctoral thesis combined.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">So far, about 80% of Young Conservatives believe Donald Trump would be bad for the future of conservatism. <a href="https://t.co/KFhbpFzmK8">pic.twitter.com/KFhbpFzmK8</a></p>— Young Conservatives (@USYRCoalition) <a href="https://twitter.com/USYRCoalition/status/710310298914131969">March 17, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
