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Related: About this forum(Jewish Group) After watching the USA and Trump, now I understand how Hitler gained power
Last edited Fri Oct 18, 2019, 04:28 PM - Edit history (2)
It used to baffle me how such a horrible anti-semite and psychopathic ethnic-cleanser as Hitler could gain power. Well, after watching our population in the USA from 2015 to now, I really get it.
Warning, a rant is coming. If not in the mood, feel free to click out.
First, a caveat: yes, I am not saying Trump "is Hitler". Whatever anti-semitism Donald Trump has is much more muted than Hitler had.
As we all know, Hitler came to power in a Germany deeply steeped in anti-semitism. The years 1918 to 1933 were, at times, filled with political instability, vicious street fighting between the Communists and Nazis, hyperinflation, and economic depression. The German people were tired of the depression and the flaws of the Weimar regime. Hitler offered a simple solution: kill all the Jews and the Communists who were allegedly plaguing the country, and all would be great! Make Deutschland Great Again!
Hitler never legitimately won elective office even though his NSDAP party did well in the 1932 election. He was appointed Chancellor by Hindenburg, and the rest is horrible history. Theoretically, Hitler could have been stopped well before 1933, but that was the defining point where he had to be stopped. Just like the current USA, people were too busy struggling with the depression (or if doing well, apathetic) to pay attention to the horror taking place right in front of them.
If you're a reasonably intelligent person and paying some attention to politics, what Trump has been doing since 2015 should horrify you. He should have been crushed at the ballot box in a landslide of historic proportions. Instead, due to Russian meddling and other factors, we have this narcissistic psychopath who is the closest American presidential comparison to Hitler in history. Yes, Mussolini is a closer comparison, but I know much more about Hitler.
How in the absolute fuck have we allowed ourselves to sink so low to allow this demented power-mad asshole to disgrace the Oval Office ? Nixon was bad, but wow, Trump takes the fucking cake. I mean, if we don't impeach (and hopefully convict) Trump, what's next ? A much smarter more sophisticated version of Trump who cranks it up to 11 ?
May God have mercy on our nation, but people need to WAKE UP, PAY ATTENTION, and get rid of this Dictator-wannabe and never allow ourselves to sink this low again!
llashram
(6,269 posts)I agree and hope that we will this upcoming defining election in American politics and history
qazplm135
(7,465 posts)Germany's economy. He actually did infrastructure and manufacturing reform. He had military successes in reclaiming lost land. He actually DID make Germany great again.
Then of course he did a load of batshit evil follow-ups.
But he came to power to a beaten and embarrassed country and he followed through early on with some semblance of competence.
Trump has been nothing like that. Trump came to power in a nation that was in a decent but could be better spot because just enough Americans thought he was just kidding and bought into a con or hated Hillary and the libs.
Completely different circumstances. Trump's not Hitler.
steve2470
(37,461 posts)Military successes ? You realize those were all illegal under existing international law ?
The German economy was improved by an illegal ramping up of their military (against the Versailles treaty), the passage of time and yes, by infrastructure improvements.
Of course it was totally different then. My main point is, through apathy and being overwhelmed by the depression, the German people allowed this horrible anti-semite into office.
Because of the Russian meddling, the horribly racist Republican base, apathy, etc, we have Trump. That's my point. He is the WORST President in American history, bar none, just as Hitler was the worst for Germany.
Ok I'm done here.
qazplm135
(7,465 posts)but the initial ones were simply recapturing areas that Germany previously controlled and the terms of the treaty were fairly ridiculous and would have been chafed at by any nation.
The Versailles Treaty was a bad treaty. If Hitler had simply done what he did in the beginning, without invading Poland or killing millions of people, and treating the Jews so horrifically, then things would have turned out quite different. Your post wasn't about what Hitler became but HOW he came to power. And the way he came to power was not because of "apathy." He came to power promising and then very quickly DELIVERING on make Germany a much stronger and healthier nation. He didn't initially trumpet an antisemitism that was any stronger than was already going on elsewhere in Europe. Half of the British leadership was filled with anti-Semites for example.
It's a poor analogy yet it keeps being made because people feel a need to make him something he's not.
Hitler was a cunning, intelligent and effective (until the drugs took over and his evil nature spilled out) leader who manipulated circumstances to make himself the leader.
Trump is a bumbling, banal idiot who is only skilled at media manipulation and short term con artistry who lucked into winning.
If you want to make a historical comparison MAYBE Mussolini, but even then still, Trump is even that and Italy then wasn't the US now.
My point is that this is a different model and circumstance more unique to present-day America than tortured comparisons to Hitler or NAZI Germany.
MyMission
(1,994 posts)I saw and felt it when 45 was campaigning, and then became 45. I was also horrified. No simple cause and effect here, it's complicated but the first similarity was the maga campaign, which Hitler used in Germany. The complacency of some and the gullibility of many and the scapegoating and hatred he espoused lead to his rise and allowed or enabled his evil actions. Just like rump did here.
Mean, evil, hateful and stupid don't make good citizens, or good leaders They do make good followers; and like too many tyrants who seek to control their populations (rather than lead) by encouraging the worst in people, both Hitler and rump inspired many to be their worst selves.
The troll that replied to your posts has clearly got an agenda, and is probably not Jewish and was looking for a fight. I think most here on du and all here in this forum understand the comparison of these 2 monsters, or the comparison of 45 to any monster, and the circumstances that enabled them to gain power and control over a portion of the population that was only too willing to go along with their agendas.
Here's an interesting story:
My (non-jewish) aunt was born in Germany in 1927. When she was turning 6 her German father, a journalist who spoke many languages, sent her to live with a family in Switzerland because he didn't want her to join the Hitler youth, a propaganda group formed to raise and brainwash loyal Germans. Like rump, who mistrusts everyone and has a thing about loyalty to him but shows no loyalty, Hitler was enabled by those in his administration who mirrored his views and expanded on them.
My aunt's father was chosen to be part of Hitler's press corps. Whenever the Germans seized or conquered a town, he was sent there to report on the glorious conquest. He also smuggled in samples of documents that he passed to the Jews and other oppressed populations so they could forge documents, such as travel visas, so they might escape safely. He couldn't oppose or stand up to Hitler, but he did what he could to subvert his efforts. My aunt grew up, moved to the US, met and married my Jewish uncle and raised her daughter as a Jew. She never formally converted but considers herself Jewish.
After 45 was elected, I asked her about her experience in Nazi Germany and how it compared to the US. She said that those who spoke out against Hitler were either ostracized or brutalized, very similar to what she was witnessing in the US with regard to those who spoke out against rump. Another similarity!
The whistleblowers, and some others who appear to go along with 45, only to subvert or expose his efforts, motives, and his treachery are like my aunt's father. And The many repugs who are retiring are hopefully going to stand against him as they jump ship because they can't stay on and oppose him.
I pray, and want to believe that enough people, citizens and politicians, see the evil 45 represents, and will vote against him. (For impeachment, or election if it comes to that) .
And they/we will put more safeguards in place to prevent this from happening again!
And I remind you and myself that we did win back Congress in 2018. That bodes well for 2020.