It’s normal in American politics for someone to label a politician as “Hitler” or Nazis. Usually, this is aimed at a Republican politician, even though the policies of Hitler tended to have more in common with Leftists/Progressives. George Bush was called Hitler non-stop. Reagan was Hitler. Arnold Schwarzenneger was also Hitler. So was Dick Cheney. The Swift Boat Vets for Truth were Nazi’s and Hitler. Nixon was Hitler. Pretty much ever Republican presidential candidate is Hitler. Even John McCain was called Hitler.
In all fairness, liberals will get compared, as well. Obama has been called Hitler a few times. That’s wrong. He’s more Mao or Castro. But, you can always depend upon Democrats trotting out the meme against Republicans. Fortunately, we have Justin E.H. Smith at the NY Times to shoot this down. Sort of
No, He’s Not Hitler. And Yet …
We are supposed to find some solace these days in the assurance that Donald Trump is “not Hitler.†One reasonable response is this: Of course he isn’t. Only Hitler is Hitler, and he died in a bunker in 1945. There is no such thing as reincarnation, and history is nothing more than a long, linear series of individual people and events that come and go. It is, as the saying goes, “just one damn thing after another.â€
This quip is in part a rejection of the idea that history is, or might someday be, a sort of science in which we subsume particular events under general laws. This idea motivated Hegel to conceptualize human history as a law-governed dialectical process of the “unfolding of absolute Spirit.â€
What follows is paragraph after paragraph of reincarnation and history fluff, leading to
The degeneration of which Mr. Trump is a symptom is by no means limited to American political life. If Trump is not a reincarnation of Hitler, he is most certainly one head of the same global Hydra that has already given us Vladimir V. Putin, Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Narendra Modi. For all of them, the past is not something to study and to attend to, but something to sculpt.
So, he’s not quite Hitler, but he is a big time strongman. We could probably compare and contrast Obama’s strongman/Big Government leanings to the three mentioned, but, let’s move on. Much of the article is about historical truth, and blames Trump for stretching it, massaging it, and making it up. They are quite vexed with Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. I mean, really, it’s “mythological”, and “No one will ever call on him to cite any dates or figures to back it up.” How horrible!!!!!1!!!
The task that faces American voters at the present moment is enormous: to save the United States from the same post-democratic order to which parts of Europe and most of Asia has already fallen. Our relationship to history will play no small role in this. History may be rooted in storytelling, but we can summon it to be something more — the arbiter of truth against lies told in pursuit of power.
You mean how Europe has fallen into decay of uber-Leftism, resulting in stagnant economies, low GDP, and is being invaded by hordes of outsiders who refuse to assimilate and expect those nations to accommodate them? A goodly chunk of Asia was never democratic, and a goodly chunk is also a hotbed of Islamism or moving in that direction. But, you know, Donald Trump!
Mr. Trump himself appears indifferent to history, as well as to the grave significance of the comparisons of him to Hitler. It’s true that Donald Trump is not Hitler. But the fact that the comparison has any traction at all, that it is a recognizable part of our new political dialogue, and that the man at its center is not actively seeking to prove it wrong, shows how severe the current crisis is, and hints at how dark the future might get.
So, he’s not quite Hitler. Yet. He could be, though! I’m sure Trump’s phrase about putting America and Americans first gives people at the NY Times the vapors and swoons. How dare he! Hitleresque! Doom! Nazi!
Hillary Clinton lobbed the video equivalent of a Nazi buzz bomb at Donald Trump on Saturday by making his German heritage a campaign issue.
The 37-second clip decrying Trump’s attacks on federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel’s Mexican heritage was subtle — but fans and foes got the message: Clinton thinks Trump, like the Nazis, hates people based on their race.
“His heritage is German. Heil Trump!†tweeted Trump foe Michael Gilmorâ€.
“We can all hear the ‘dog whistle’ — she’s calling ‘Drumpf’ a Nazi because he’s German,†posted James Sweitzer.
She had said the day before the video was released “We’re electing a president, not a dictator.†All’s fair in politics. Don’t expect the majority of the media to defend Trump like they would if he called Hillary Hitler.
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Teach woukd you agree that Ovama has been called Hitler more times by nationally elected GOP members than was Bush by Dem elected members?
You might check google
And no Teach the Nazis were not left wing they were a right wing group at least as defined by most dictionaries
They would be considered left wing except in a BIZZARO world by people speaking BIZZARO English
Hitler was supported by many prominent conservative Americans prior to Pearl Harbor Hitler was not supported by progressive liberals such as FDR
National Socialist German Workers Party. It says “Socialst” (left wing) in the name.
John,
Do you know what right and left wing mean in Europe? No, I thought not. Read some books.