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I'm not afraid that Trump would commit genocide or start WWIII, but his candidacy has shown me how a guy like Hitler could come to power in the first place. Consider these parallels:
- After WWI, Germany was humiliated and suffered economic collapse due to reparations imposed by the Allies. Hitler said he wanted to restore Germany's greatness. Trump wants to "make America great again".
- Hitler told people their problems were caused by foreigners (Britain and France), and failure of Germany's leaders to stand up to them. Trump blames China and Mexico.
- Hitler also scapegoated a particular religious group (Jews) as does Trump (Muslims). Both appealed to racist elements in their populace.
This is not to knock Trump, but to explain how large numbers of people can trust a candidate who seems wholly unfit, because he appeals to their feelings of economic frustration and xenophobia.
Shout it for the people in the back.
This is what we're talking about when we make comparisons to Hitler. Hitler was not *just* the systematic murder of more than 6 million people. He was a whole movement that led up to it.
In Hitler's case, the Nazi party became a majority part in parliament, so Hitler had free reign. I think Trump wouldn't make it past a single term and he wouldn't have any particular support from either party.
Not exactly.
The Nazis were a minority, but Hitler cooked up an assassination attempt, using a poor mental defective, and used the crisis to declare the government was under martial law. Pretty much like the then Secretary of State, Alexander Haig did when Reagan was shot.
Unlike Haig, Hitler got away with it, and then ordered the German parliament disbanded. It was, under force, and Hitler took over Germany step by step for a full year- 1930. And then, things steadily and slowly grew worse every day for the next 8 years.
At that time, Hitler wasn't even the strongest leader of the Nazi party. It took him over 3 years to literally eliminate all all the others before he was able to set out on his larger plans of ruling Europe.
He made many mistakes along the way, but his fanbase ignored all of them. He always told them what they wanted to hear in the big rallies he used, and they always ate those rallies up because it made them think they were a bigger force than they actually were. As the party grew, the rallies became bigger and more impressive.
Even when he was sending them to their deaths, they still went out to all his rallies. They were what kept him in power from the beginning to the end.
It was a classic example of putting a bunch of frogs in a kettle of cold water and then slowly turning up the heat until the frogs boiled to death. A few frogs were smart enough to jump out while they still could, but most of them never realized the pot was heating up so much.
There's not much difference between "Lock Her Up!" and "Confine the Jew!" in a rally.
Only the target differs. I'm sure many who shouted the latter really weren't serious about killing the Jew at first.But the Jews got locked up by the score until they were killed.
The parallels between Trump's rise to prominence and Hitler's rise to power are striking. Scapegoating minority groups, harkening back to the "good ol' days" when the majority group wielded more power, and refusing to take any responsibility on the part of the candidate or the supporters follows Hitler's arch point for point.
True but that's not unique to Hitler. Most Nationalist candidates like Trump use such tactics. And it works! Look how many otherwise reasonable people really, truly, believe the propaganda of the whackjob fringe. That's how autocrats and despots get into power.
But Trump is no Hitler. Hitler was a genius that used his intelligence to provoke one of the most horrific scourges in modern times. And, he was much younger than Trump - Hitler spent decades building his Nazi dream. Trump on the other hand is a spoiled little boy, he is way out of his league when he compares himself to a hardened leader of the evil empire like Putin, much less Hitler.
Last edited by GearHeadDave; 10-11-2016 at 02:49 PM..
Not exactly.
The Nazis were a minority, but Hitler cooked up an assassination attempt, using a poor mental defective, and used the crisis to declare the government was under martial law. Pretty much like the then Secretary of State, Alexander Haig did when Reagan was shot.
Unlike Haig, Hitler got away with it, and then ordered the German parliament disbanded. It was, under force, and Hitler took over Germany step by step for a full year- 1930. And then, things steadily and slowly grew worse every day for the next 8 years.
At that time, Hitler wasn't even the strongest leader of the Nazi party. It took him over 3 years to literally eliminate all all the others before he was able to set out on his larger plans of ruling Europe.
He made many mistakes along the way, but his fanbase ignored all of them. He always told them what they wanted to hear in the big rallies he used, and they always ate those rallies up because it made them think they were a bigger force than they actually were. As the party grew, the rallies became bigger and more impressive.
Even when he was sending them to their deaths, they still went out to all his rallies. They were what kept him in power from the beginning to the end.
It was a classic example of putting a bunch of frogs in a kettle of cold water and then slowly turning up the heat until the frogs boiled to death. A few frogs were smart enough to jump out while they still could, but most of them never realized the pot was heating up so much.
There's not much difference between "Lock Her Up!" and "Confine the Jew!" in a rally.
Only the target differs. I'm sure many who shouted the latter really weren't serious about killing the Jew at first.But the Jews got locked up by the score until they were killed.
Thanks for the reminder about how all that came about. It's chilling to those of us that actually care about preserving our freedoms. It's also sickening to think about how Trump vilifies the memories of the soldiers that fought and died to protect this nation from fascism.
Here's a pretty good 2-part documentary from the youtube channel "Reich-wing watch" that compares trump to hitler quote-by-quote & blow by blow...
The third vid is from the horse's mouth (or wherever): your basic internet race-ghoul tells us what it thinks about the comparison between trump & its prophet. Enjoy.
Thanks for the reminder about how all that came about. It's chilling to those of us that actually care about preserving our freedoms. It's also sickening to think about how Trump vilifies the memories of the soldiers that fought and died to protect this nation from fascism.
Thanks to you, Dave.
Hitler was no genius, but he was a classic sociopath who could see using politics as a way to self gratification.
The real Nazi leaders were those who created the party. When Hitler joined, he was nothing but one more angry unemployed vet in a small town who needed somebody to pick on. Ernst Roehm, the leader of the Nazi militia, was a genuine war hero, so badly injured that he had to wear a leather nose, was one of the real leaders, and a terrific organizer.
If Roehm hadn't taken a liking to the prissy little shrimp, Hitler would have never been anything but another anonymous homeless street guy. The relationship may have been boyfriends with benefits; Roehm was gay, and Hitler was rumored to be a gay prostitute in Vienna before WWI broke out.
Lovers or not, it didn't stop Hitler from shooting at Roehm in the Night of the Long Knives. He missed, but one of hitler's guys executed him later the same day.
If you want to know just how slow and subtle Hitler's takeover was, read "In the Garden of Beasts" by historian Erik Larson. It's about the naive U.S. Ambassador to Germany who was dropped into Berlin in 1933, the year it all began for real.
It reads like a novel, but it's all true.
I finished the book earlier this year, and the parallels between then and now are scary as all getouts.
Everyone who Hitler chose to surround him were people just like him, and they were all close friends. Gentlemen all, on the surface. Underneath, they were all rabid dogs.
Hitler was no genius, but he was a classic sociopath who could see using politics as a way to self gratification.
The real Nazi leaders were those who created the party. When Hitler joined, he was nothing but one more angry unemployed vet in a small town who needed somebody to pick on. Ernst Roehm, the leader of the Nazi militia, was a genuine war hero, so badly injured that he had to wear a leather nose, was one of the real leaders, and a terrific organizer.
If Roehm hadn't taken a liking to the prissy little shrimp, Hitler would have never been anything but another anonymous homeless street guy. The relationship may have been boyfriends with benefits; Roehm was gay, and Hitler was rumored to be a gay prostitute in Vienna before WWI broke out.
Lovers or not, it didn't stop Hitler from shooting at Roehm in the Night of the Long Knives. He missed, but one of hitler's guys executed him later the same day.
If you want to know just how slow and subtle Hitler's takeover was, read "In the Garden of Beasts" by historian Erik Larson. It's about the naive U.S. Ambassador to Germany who was dropped into Berlin in 1933, the year it all began for real.
It reads like a novel, but it's all true.
I finished the book earlier this year, and the parallels between then and now are scary as all getouts.
Everyone who Hitler chose to surround him were people just like him, and they were all close friends. Gentlemen all, on the surface. Underneath, they were all rabid dogs.
Substitute Rhoem with Bannon and we have a winner.
I don't believe this world will ever see a Hitler again. Even though what Hitler ultimately did was not his original plan, he changed his plan and it took the world too long to catch up to him until after he had slaughtered millions of human beings.
There are still atrocities going on in this world. Innocent lives are being lost daily, and lots of them. Trump really isn't much different than Hitler was in the beginning. I was a true Trump follower in the beginning, because it seemed like he was speaking to me. He seemed to care about me more than a "Washington politician" like Clinton does.
But now after two debates and much campaigning, sadly our choices are still terrible. I think we have two candidates that can't be trusted. We can believe Clinton has had people killed. We can believe she's a liar about the emails. But there's an underlying intangible to Trump that seems a bit scary to me. Again, I don't think if he became president there'd be another mass genocide. But it doesn't change the fact that in a powerful political office, he could be a very scary person potentially, even more so than Clinton.
The term 'hitler' gets thrown around quite often, you know, its now getting used on regular citizens, good family men and national heroes just because a person doesn't agree with another person's point of view, i know, i don't agree so let me compare that person to hitler. Why not Charles Manson? Is he not dastardly enough? you have to go to level 10.5 and pull out the 'hitler card'? My itty bitty feelings got hurt and my team lost the big game so YOURE HITLER.
The term 'hitler' gets thrown around quite often, you know, its now getting used on regular citizens, good family men and national heroes just because a person doesn't agree with another person's point of view, i know, i don't agree so let me compare that person to hitler. Why not Charles Manson? Is he not dastardly enough? you have to go to level 10.5 and pull out the 'hitler card'? My itty bitty feelings got hurt and my team lost the big game so YOURE HITLER.
did you even read through the thread? the commentaries were thoughtful. THOUGHTFUL.
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