Donald
Trump is no Hitler and his supporters are not Nazis. But there are some
frightening aspects of the Trump phenomenon that evoke similarities to the rise
of Hitler. Trump is an unstable egotist who obviously wants to amass as much
power as he can. People compare him to Hitler mostly out of opposition to his
policies and his personality. But there are real concerns for thinking people
who know history.
Perhaps
the most glaring similarity to the policies of Hitler is Trump’s singling-out
of a minority group for special opprobrium. While Trump may not envision the
wholesale murder of undocumented aliens, he surely mirrors Hitler’s desire to expel
millions of people of a particular ethnic group from his nation. Hitler initially
called for the Jews’ deportation and resettlement, preferably in someplace like
Palestine. Trump seeks to send all undocumented aliens back to Latin America.
Trump’s campaign for the presidency really took-off when he first attacked the
Latin-American immigrants with the lie that they were mostly criminals and
rapists. Trump has described the entry of illegal aliens into the U.S. as an “infestation.”
This is how he views Latin Americans, as vermin. With this kind of racism he
has attracted the support of large numbers of uneducated and blue collar
Americans. Hitler rose to prominence by appealing to the hatred uneducated
proletarian workers felt toward the Jews. Both men played the demagogue by
catering to the bigotries of lower-class people.
Another
Hitler-like attribute of Trump is his grandiosity. Trump held a meeting of his
cabinet at which he went around the table and had members praise him and speak like
sycophants of the benefits of working in his administration. Many commentators
thought it looked like a meeting of the lieutenants of a despot like Hitler.
History records that Hitler’s toadies fawned over him and even established as a
national greeting the salute, “Heil Hitler.” Recently, after returning from his
meeting with Kim Jong Un of North Korea, Trump said of Kim "He speaks and his people sit-up at attention. I want my people to do the same." Trump wasn't being sarcastic. He meant it. That is a clear sign of grandiosity,
pomposity, arrogance, and egotism. It may also be a sign of mental illness.
Another
troubling similarity to Hitler is Trump’s proclivity for lying. Hitler was one of
the men who inspired the term “Big Lie.” Hitler lied all the time. Sometimes
his lies were world-shaking, like his assurances to Chamberlain that he wanted
no more of Czechoslovakia than the Sudetenland. But any reading of history
tells you that Hitler was a chronic and habitual liar. Likewise, Trump is a
congenital and inveterate liar. As former FBI Director James Comey has pointed
out, Trump lies about everything big and small. While it may be understandable
that a leader may occasionally need to give misleading facts for national
security, there is no need for the high level of mendacity displayed by Donald
Trump.
Hitler
liked pageantry. Many of the pictures we see of him are at huge rallies and
parades. There is no doubt that the giant assemblies with adoring crowds
swelled Hitler’s ego and gave him a feeling of God-like power. Trump saw a
parade on Bastille Day in Paris and it appealed to him so much that he
announced that he wanted to have one in the United States. He did not select a
national holiday for this exhibition. He merely said that he wanted a parade.
Obviously the purpose of the parade would not be to honor America. It would be
to celebrate the glory of Trump.
The
most recent exhibit of Trump malevolence is the ugly specter of American ICE
officials separating children from their illegal alien parents at the border
with Mexico. This is the kind of thing done by the Nazis to the Jews upon
arrival at Hitler’s concentration camps. Under overwhelming pressure, and
purely for political purposes, Trump reversed the practice.
Trump
may not be a Nazi, but he is applauded by Neo-Nazis, the KKK, White
Nationalists, and other right-wing extremists. He constitutes a potential
threat to our democracy and values.
