The strategic blunder of ‘Trump-as-Hitler’
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Eighteen months into the Trump administration and the president's ostensibly serious critics have finally broken the glass on the "Trump-is-a-Nazi" line of attack.
To be certain, there were previous allusions to this from media, Democrats and "Never Trumpers" - accusations of authoritarianism meant to implicitly draw the connection between President Donald Trump and Nazi Germany.
But overwrought comparisons to the Nazis are both historically illiterate and an extreme strategic misstep. The president's critics have crossed a rhetorical line from which there can be no turning back.
That the Trump administration would be compared with Nazi Germany is not surprising. Accusations of "Republicans-as-fascists" long predate this administration. A Democratic congressman accused President Ronald Reagan of "trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from 'Mein Kampf.' " In more recent times, recall Keith Olbermann's tarring of President George W. Bush as a "fascist" in an on-air segment in 2008, an appellation also bestowed upon other members of the Bush administration.
Members of Congress, former officials, reporters and TV commentators have tweeted comparisons of U.S. detention facilities to Nazi concentration camps or issued none-too-subtle invocations of gas chambers in their tweets about children being led away from their parents by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Reporters have peppered administration officials with questions about their "Nazi" tactics.
On Friday, an MSNBC commentator extended the Nazi label to every Trump supporter, declaring: "If you vote for Trump then you, the voter, you, not Donald Trump, are standing at the border, like Nazis, going: 'You here, you here.'"
Earlier, one magazine fact-checker beclowned herself by mistaking the tattoo of an ICE forensics analyst - a wounded Marine veteran and Paralympian - as a Nazi symbol.
Given that the Obama administration also housed separated children in "cages," which merited the faintest of peeps from supplicant media, politicians and activists, this newfound outrage comes off as contrived partisanship.
Apart from the historical ignorance in comparing the mechanized genocide of 6 million people with the temporary warehousing of children in detention facilities, going full-bore with accusations of Nazism is a grave strategic error on the part of those opposing the president.
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This, then, raises the question: Where do Democrats and their "Never Trump" conservative hangers-on go next, rhetorically, having spent their shot on the border issue? Anything less than full accusations of Nazism will seem tame by comparison. Now that Trump is "actually Hitler," any compromise by Democrats will be viewed as kowtowing to fascism. Conversely, sticking with the Nazism line of attack cheapens its effect and, frankly, makes its proponents come off as a little more than unhinged, something perhaps already at play given that a Gallup poll has put Trump at his highest approval rating to date.
Is this perhaps the last, desperate gasp of the president's critics? Do they double down and ride the Trump-as-Hitler narrative - and themselves - into the ground until November's midterms and beyond? Undoubtedly, the president is ready to chum the waters with another carefully manufactured outrage to distract the pundit class.
Despite what should have been a slam-dunk for critics of the president, the overwrought rhetoric of Democrats may have handed the modern-day Teflon Don another victory, and harmed their longer-term prospects in the process.
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"Now that Trump is "actually Hitler," any compromise by Democrats will be viewed as kowtowing to fascism. "
Makes sense. Expect NOTHING from Democrats during Trumps Presidency. He's Hitler afterall.
He's not quite Hitler, Sammy, but I honestly wonder if Trump would even lose support if he set up gas chambers to exterminate migrants. The right would probably just call it fake news.
Really ?
Be honest....you're a conspiracy theorist ain't ya.
According to ALL the Liberal MSM....it's going on right now as we speak.
I think he had it right, considering once again you didn't finish reading beyond the part that gave you something to hate on.
This is the part I'm talking about,
Like the Germans of WWII, you would have to be walked through the camp just to prove it to you.
I read the entire comment. Your addition to the comment didn't make it any better.
Sooooo, you've never called CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, MSNBC fake news? Come on, I bet you have.
I haven't been posting about Fake News, and the article isn't about "Fake News" at all.
Are you trying to Deflect ?
I think you did say this in an earlier post on this seed,
Translation: you called the MSM, "Fake News".
Let’s see did or do you call The National Enquirer “Fake News”? Remember, they were the first to ACCURATELY report on John Edwards affair with his biographer. So, even Fake News sources can get it right even though they are usually making things up or reporting conspiracy theories...
and, a broken clock gets the time right twice a day. What's your point? A clock that works right all the time, tells the correct time all the time, no one on here has shown when the MSM or, any of the news organizations I mentioned have lied or, manufactured news as much as FOX news or, The National Enquirer, both of which have lied and, manufactured news to make sensational headlines to sell their story's more times than Trump has lied.
You should stop trying to translate on your own and just ask !
What did I get wrong? You said it, I didn't.
Where ?
Oh, so the New York Times never plagiarized, despite getting caught several times? CNN never made up any of its so-called facts about Trump and his policies? Fox News has not nearly made up anything as much as the Mainstream Media has since Trump was elected.
You know all that news about how Trump separated illegal immigrant families and was the first to do so, was a lie as that policy has been around since Bill Clinton. The MSM gleefully posted pictures from the Obama Administration and claimed that was how Trump was treating the illegals. They, also, gleefully posted pics and a story about the border patrol taking a crying little girl away from her mother, yet later we find out that it never happened. The crying girl was just scared and never separated from her mother. And, that is twice the MSM lied about a SINGLE issue. This is why they are considered Fake News; because their ONLY goal is to destroy Trump. And, they do not try to report the news and find the truth before they report it.
The Japanese interment camps happened and while we never actually killed anyone, many died in them.
It appears all of them are, and then there's the whole other narrative about Trump and Putin being co-colluders
Are you trying to redefine "fake news"? Plagiarizing isn't "fake", it is using someone's intellectual property without their permission.
Here.
The other news organizations have admitted they've made mistakes, FOX never has admitted they've gotten a story wrong or, that they have lied and, the fact is, most of the time they do both. Show me a lie that that any of the others have said and, I will show you a retraction from that news organization and, ten to a hundred lies told not only by FOX but, by Trump and, his administration.
Where did I say that? The thing is all news organizations are operated by humans, the difference is whether those news organizations are willing to admit they were wrong and, to correct their mistakes, FOX doesn't like to admit it is wrong and, correct it's mistakes, like the National Enquirer they have to be sued to get them to admit anything.
Fake news is not just about made-up news, it is about dishonesty. Plagiarism is dishonesty as you are taking someone else's work and claiming it as your own. Making up reports or propaganda and making it sound like actual real news, aka the separation of families narrative using pictures taken during the Obama Administration, is also dishonesty at work.
Same way death camps have ALWAYS been set up. Call them "re-location camps" or "work camps" out away from people. The incinerators are for trash and/or industry.
Look at history, it worked for Germany and it worked for Stalin, and a few nobody ever heard of.
Nope, Not there either !
I've noticed they're starting to back off that type of rhetoric. Maybe they got the message it was a STUPID message ?
So you ARE trying to change the definition. Massive cop-out and fail on your part.
No, I haven’t changed anything. This all started with CNN being dishonest and Trump calling them out for being dishonest by calling them ‘Fake News’. So, I haven’t changed the definition or context.
Sure, sure. Trump said their story about Russian collusion was "fake news", Trump also calls every story by any news outlet that is not favorable to him as "fake news", but that does not make it so.
Since your definition does not match the "actual" definition, yes you are trying to change it to support your argument. Your claim does not even address the content or conclusion of the news article.
Definition of fake
And it is a fake news story. There has been no evidence whatsoever that there was any collusion between Trump and any Russians. There was an unverified rumor (Steele dossier) that was used to created the narrative.
I'd ask you to list the people in his campaign/administration that had contact with Russians then either lied or failed to disclose that info, but it would be a much shorter list for you to list who DID NOT.
You would be wrong, as the only person that has plead guilty to having any sort of contact with the Russians over the 2016 elections was Flynn and even the FBI said he didn't really lie to them. The others that have been indicted were about contacts made years and years ago and not filing the proper forms for those contacts as lobbyists.
EDIT: Oh, and Flynn had to sell his house to pay his legal fees just for pleading guilty. He couldn't afford a legal battle, hence the guilty plea.
So Carter Hall and Jeff Sessions were not part of Trump's administration/campaign? Just to name 2 of them.
Have they been indicted or charged? No.
Source? I'd like to see that statement from the FBI.
How about Andrew McCabe's own words in Congressional testimony, which is about halfway down the article where he said "The two people who interviewed [Flynn] didn't think he was lying."
Moving the goalposts? They have both admitted to it.
I haven't moved the goalposts. I stated that Flynn is the only one who plead guilty for Russian contacts during the campaign and that was due to legal costs more than anything. No one else has actually been charged with any crimes regarding the 2016 campaign, so neither Carter Hall, whoever he is, or Sessions have been charged with anything so any so-called admissions are not legally binding and not relevant to our discussion.
Actually here is your first sentence that I responded to:
NOW you have moved the goalposts from "evidence of collusion" to " Have they been indicted or charged? ". Not only did you move them, you left the hole behind where they used to be...
And, I stand by that statement. What Flynn was charged with and plead guilty to was lying to investigators, which is not collusion with Russians. No one has even been charged with colluding with Russians let alone indicted or convicted. You want to keep moving the goalposts in order to be right with your argument, but you haven't even passed midfield yet.
Which is not what we were talking about, so now you are trying to deflect from your previous comment. Flynn admitted contact with Russian agents during the campaign, that by itself contradicts your original comment.
Plus, what he was "charged with" and "plead guilty to", has little relationship to everything that he has done. It just shows that he had enough info for the prosecutors to cut a deal and let him off lightly in exchange for his information.
The left’s Trump derangement syndrome is becoming much more severe as they become completely unhinged. Illegal aliens are flooding the border making bogus asylum claims. Trump decides to hold them at the border pending asylum hearings because, if he didn’t, they would abscond to democrat sanctuary cities to evade hearings and deportation. Now the democrat loons are comparing a detention camp, used to prevent illegal aliens from overrunning the county, to an extermination camp where monster Joseph Mengele blithely waives his hand to indicate who will live and who will die. This utterly ridiculous comparison no doubt gets a thumbs up from those who teeter at the brink of insanity but it’s not worth more than a chuckle to anyone else. So obviously it would go in one ear of a Trump supporter and out the other because it’s total nonsense.
Meanwhile raging lunatic Maxine Waters is urging fellow loons to shout down opponents and drive them from public view by hounding and harassing them wherever they can be found, whether it’s at a restaurant, a gas station, a school, etc. In her world, freedom of speech is the right to stop others from even being seen, let alone speaking their minds. What’s funny is that leftists think Trump is Hitler while they imitate Stalin.
Hitler? Once again, the horrors of Hitler are being turned into a joke - every time there is world leader one does not like, they are compared to Hitler... read some history, I have several books that I can recommend on the rise of Hitler - perhaps once one learns about the man, they will quit trying to resurrect him from behind every corner?
Why do so many desire to have another Hitler? It is mind boggling! The horrors of Hitler should not be forgotten, and they should not be tossed out as a joke … if Trump put gas chambers at the border blah blah .. it would be called fake new … My gosh people 6 million people were killed, gassed, burned alive, starved to death, experimented on … the list goes on..
I will stop my rant there … please continue to spew the ignorance of all things Hitler, by trying to compare Trump to him!
" The president's critics have crossed a rhetorical line from which there can be no turning back."
It's not really rhetorical if it's true.
Trump has vilified the media even calling for canceling some private media companies licenses because they didn't view him favorably.
Trump has used violent rhetoric to embolden his base telling them “If you see somebody with a tomato, knock the crap out of them, Seriously. Just knock the hell .... I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.”
Trump proclaimed there were "good people" among the Nazi's and KKK that were chanting "Jews will not replace us!" while marching with tiki torches. The following day one of them rammed his car into the peaceful protesters killing one and maiming dozens.
Trump blames all the problems of America on minorities, immigrants and liberals. He's claimed a judge born in Indiana can't be fair because he's of Mexican heritage. He's called Mexicans criminals and rapists even though statistically immigrants commit less crime than native born Americans. He's even admitted that he refuses to take any blame even when he's demonstrably wrong, "I don't know that I' ll ever admit that, but I' ll find some kind of an excuse."
Trump attacks and ridicules our global allies while cozying up to authoritarians like Putin, Kim Jong Un, Duterte and Erdogan. I have no doubt that if Russia invaded western Europe like Germany did in the late 1930's I fear our current government would be on the wrong side of history allying with the authoritarians, democracy and freedom be damned.
Trump sees violent dictators as strong men that he admires, appeases the neo-Nazi's within his supporters and has openly talked about wanting to do away with our constitutional rights of due process.
Fascism: noun - a political philosophy, movement, or regime that exalts nation and often race above the individual and that stands for a centralized autocratic government headed by a dictatorial leader, severe economic and social regimentation, and forcible suppression of opposition.
Trump and his devotees check every box on the "Are you a Fascist" test. His followers are more loyal to Trump than they are to the constitution and American ideals of freedom, justice and equality. Sadly, it's impossible for his followers to do any self-reflection and introspection, besides the fact most of them have no clue what those words mean, they are too deep in the fascist mud to have any sort of perspective. All they see is their anger and hatred of those they blame for leaving them behind in their dead end blue collar mining and manufacturing jobs that are rapidly going extinct.
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I used exact quotes proving my point, but if you want to keep your head buried in the sand, go right ahead, that's your choice. Just don't expect anyone to come to your defense when Trumps brown shirts turn on those he promised jobs but couldn't make good on his promises.
Heck, even the Germans think that Trump is a Nazi.
Two people. While surely they are more , I havent seen any groundswell of liberals calling Trump Hitler.
A "fucking idiot" ? , yep , a ton of folks call him that because it has more than a little ring of truth to it. But "Hitler"? Nope.
There are more than two people here that have repeatedly referred to Obama and Clinton as communists. I guess we're all even then.
While not all Trump supporters are Nazis or KKK members, they all did knowingly vote for a white supremacist.
What lie? Trump was well known as the King of the Birthers and had a history of refusing to rent to black folks, yet the racist morons who support Trump voted for him anyway. That was a large part of the reason for their vote.
Literally in tears. Haven’t felt this hopeless in a long time. With Justice Kennedy leaving, we now have two options as Americans: get fitted for your Nazi uniform or report directly to your death camp. How do you fight the darkness without light? My spark is going out. #SCOTUS
— Matthew K. (@mattiek17) June 27, 2018
Soak in the crazy...
I know...we've got some loony tunes around here also. NT has become Comedy Central.
Trump? A nazi? I wouldn't go that far, but is absolutely a fascist.
Hitler and all of that?
Whatever. Still waiting for Trump to show his taxes. And still waiting for Trump to reveal the evidence his investigators found in Hawaii concerning Obama's citizenship status.
And lastly, why did Melania Trump choose 'that jacket' ( which is way below her price range ) to wear for her jaunt to the internment camps?
Trump wants to be an oligarch. In a few weeks he'll get to see Putin and get a few pointers.
Funny thing about history. One set of people never learned any beyond lower grade school, so their ignorance is honest, although they'll talk about it like they were there. Another type KNOWS the history, but ignore it's lessons, and the third who want history to be the way they want it to be and will ignore history in favor of their version of it.
In all three cases, history is useless and any knowledge or lessons are lost.
Also, just in passing, either look up what some of the words like "fascist" or "socialist" because I don't think they mean what you think they mean.
Not that it matters to a lot of people, because if it isn't solid ultra-conservative total capitalism under authoritarians, it's all the same and all "bad."
trump hasn't helped himself much dispelling the hitler analogy. As "the boss" he wants it all HIS way. He has ALL the answers and dont get in HIS way of initiating anything HE believes is the right way or you just may quickly get destroyed politicly.
People are walking away from politics at this stage not to have to engage with this man,. sad
That's certainly not a very democratic way of governing IMO.
Ya gotta love how Adolf Trump marched the children off 'to the showers' when he abducted them from their parents. How Hitlerian! And if Hitlerian wasn't a word before, it is now!
Probably the first real bath they've had in a long time.....since their Parents? drug them through the dirty desert.