Good for you and congratulations! This is first time I've encountered someone honest and brave enough to make such a forthright and in-depth comparison between Hitler's and Trump's words and actions.
As you point out so completely and so articulately, the fundamental manipulative demagoguery of each man is almost exactly the same, just some minor differences in style and technology. The fundamental manipulation is always the same--tap into people's ignorance and fear; drill down constantly until you reach their most primitive fears and desires; set fire to their houses then tell them you're the only one can put it out--
I really admire you for making the inevitable comparisons between these two maniacs--complete with a perfect illustration!
Dear Shanley, Your arguments in support of the impertive that we stop Trump from teaching us to believe that we must be amoral in order to show that we qualify as M.A.G.A. patriots are relentless. I will copy them and reiterate them Thank you.
My mother's cousin Walther and my grandfather were both on the Polish border in the spring and summer of 1939, Walther as a soldier right on the border and my grandfather as a surgeon running a military hospital a few miles back. Both were terrified. Both knew, and both reported, that everyone in that secluded zone knew that the war was coming very soon. Walther told me of how the Polish soldiers were taunted over the border gates. Hitler's war was as much a media event as Trump's. The attack on the radio tower at Gleiwitz was even staged by dressing concentration camp inmates in seized Polish military uniforms and shooting them in a staged attack to give a pretext. I am saying this to point out that the similarities are far closer than Hitler's speech alone makes them. It was theatre. Both men practice saying one thing for the gullible, which means something else to others, and both are sexual criminals, which is very much the point.
I disagree That comparing the two flattens history rather than clarifies it ...although I'm sure your explanations offer a few documented historical insights for some. Comparing him to Hitler is extremely concise for the following reason:
"The only clue to what man can do is what man has done".
RG Collingwood
(British philosopher and historian 1889 through 1943)
Actions of the past are the only evidence of what is possible.
With respect: It is possible to reject Donald Trump’s rhetoric and still recognize that calling him “another Adolf Hitler” flattens history rather than clarifying it. Adolf Hitler rose to power in a Germany that had suffered catastrophic defeat in WWI, the punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles, hyperinflation, and mass unemployment. By the mid-1930s, many Germans experienced tangible economic recovery, rearmament, and restored national pride under his rule. Hitler was actually popular, not because of fear; but by visible public works, falling joblessness, and the perception that he had reversed national humiliation...unlike Trump who inherited an economy--despite what he claims-- The Atlantic described as "the Envy of the World"
Hitler had also served as a frontline soldier in World War I, an experience that shaped both his worldview and his credibility among veterans. Whatever else can be said about him—and there is no shortage of moral condemnation to be made—he presented himself as someone who had shared in Germany’s earlier suffering --again, unlike Cadet Bone Spurs who avoided military service during Vietnam using bogus medical deferments, a biographical difference that matters when comparing their personal narratives of sacrifice. Donard J. Trump -- born with a golden spoon has never sacrificed anything for anyone in his life.
Hitler, during his rise, was widely regarded as mentally disciplined and strategically calculating, not cognitively impaired, as Trump appears to be. None of this redeems his crimes or ideology. It simply underscores that historical analogy requires precision. Trump’s conduct can be criticized on its own terms, for sure, without stretching the equivalence with one of history’s most destructive and odious dictators.
Shanley, thank you for the reminder: ".....the people want to remain innocent even when they are being led into complicity." They, We, can avoid the news, tv and other media, even opinions until the day a letter announcing they now have to give up their children, (Parents always consider adult children as their "kids"). How many parents of the Vietnam era had their kids "come home in a box..." as The Band pointed out in a song of the era. Even winners have losses, but betting Your kids life on this one Dictator in charge is not our best bet in my humble opinion.
Good for you and congratulations! This is first time I've encountered someone honest and brave enough to make such a forthright and in-depth comparison between Hitler's and Trump's words and actions.
As you point out so completely and so articulately, the fundamental manipulative demagoguery of each man is almost exactly the same, just some minor differences in style and technology. The fundamental manipulation is always the same--tap into people's ignorance and fear; drill down constantly until you reach their most primitive fears and desires; set fire to their houses then tell them you're the only one can put it out--
I really admire you for making the inevitable comparisons between these two maniacs--complete with a perfect illustration!
Keep on rockin' in the free world!
Dear Shanley, Your arguments in support of the impertive that we stop Trump from teaching us to believe that we must be amoral in order to show that we qualify as M.A.G.A. patriots are relentless. I will copy them and reiterate them Thank you.
My mother's cousin Walther and my grandfather were both on the Polish border in the spring and summer of 1939, Walther as a soldier right on the border and my grandfather as a surgeon running a military hospital a few miles back. Both were terrified. Both knew, and both reported, that everyone in that secluded zone knew that the war was coming very soon. Walther told me of how the Polish soldiers were taunted over the border gates. Hitler's war was as much a media event as Trump's. The attack on the radio tower at Gleiwitz was even staged by dressing concentration camp inmates in seized Polish military uniforms and shooting them in a staged attack to give a pretext. I am saying this to point out that the similarities are far closer than Hitler's speech alone makes them. It was theatre. Both men practice saying one thing for the gullible, which means something else to others, and both are sexual criminals, which is very much the point.
I disagree That comparing the two flattens history rather than clarifies it ...although I'm sure your explanations offer a few documented historical insights for some. Comparing him to Hitler is extremely concise for the following reason:
"The only clue to what man can do is what man has done".
RG Collingwood
(British philosopher and historian 1889 through 1943)
Actions of the past are the only evidence of what is possible.
Best wishes,
Rhonda Graham
With respect: It is possible to reject Donald Trump’s rhetoric and still recognize that calling him “another Adolf Hitler” flattens history rather than clarifying it. Adolf Hitler rose to power in a Germany that had suffered catastrophic defeat in WWI, the punitive terms of the Treaty of Versailles, hyperinflation, and mass unemployment. By the mid-1930s, many Germans experienced tangible economic recovery, rearmament, and restored national pride under his rule. Hitler was actually popular, not because of fear; but by visible public works, falling joblessness, and the perception that he had reversed national humiliation...unlike Trump who inherited an economy--despite what he claims-- The Atlantic described as "the Envy of the World"
Hitler had also served as a frontline soldier in World War I, an experience that shaped both his worldview and his credibility among veterans. Whatever else can be said about him—and there is no shortage of moral condemnation to be made—he presented himself as someone who had shared in Germany’s earlier suffering --again, unlike Cadet Bone Spurs who avoided military service during Vietnam using bogus medical deferments, a biographical difference that matters when comparing their personal narratives of sacrifice. Donard J. Trump -- born with a golden spoon has never sacrificed anything for anyone in his life.
Hitler, during his rise, was widely regarded as mentally disciplined and strategically calculating, not cognitively impaired, as Trump appears to be. None of this redeems his crimes or ideology. It simply underscores that historical analogy requires precision. Trump’s conduct can be criticized on its own terms, for sure, without stretching the equivalence with one of history’s most destructive and odious dictators.
Shanley, thank you for the reminder: ".....the people want to remain innocent even when they are being led into complicity." They, We, can avoid the news, tv and other media, even opinions until the day a letter announcing they now have to give up their children, (Parents always consider adult children as their "kids"). How many parents of the Vietnam era had their kids "come home in a box..." as The Band pointed out in a song of the era. Even winners have losses, but betting Your kids life on this one Dictator in charge is not our best bet in my humble opinion.
This is very good and very useful ... though the masses who suffer from (or enjoy) Fox poisoning will not encounter it, alas.
The comparisons are undeniable and flashing bright red warning signs at every turn. Excellent read.
IMO, the only book he probably ever read in his entire life is "Mein Kampf."