Saturday, March 12, 2016

A Trump, Hitler parallel that applies

A recent history '1932', by David Pietrusza, chronicles the rise to power of Adolph Hitler and FDR in Germany and the US, respectively. Throughout this fascinating tome the scary 2016 Republican presidential campaign featuring neo-Fascist Donald Trump was never far from mind. 
Trump rallys, punctuated with violence and chaos, culminating in cancellation of his Chicago rally, mirror the path to power trod by Hitler in 1932 Germany. Hitler was a spellbinding rabblerouser, who offered virtually nothing of substance or specifics besides 'making Germany great again.' He offered his legion of followers meat issues of racial hatred, extreme nationalism, and demonizing the 'others' including Jewish bankers and communists. His followers engaged in endless violence against communists and other radicals which became useful to the military, the industrialists, the monarchists and the rulers who wanted those elements confronted. They used Hitler and the Nazis, never imagining Hitler would ever succeed in taking power. They felt they could control Hitler's more extreme tendencies and believed his inability to garner more than a third of the electorate in election after election meant he could never become Chancellor. When the government teetered near collapse, aging and out of touch President Hindenburg finally appointed Hitler Chancellor, fully expecting he could damp down and control his extreme rhetoric and conduct.
In failed candidate Ben Carson's endorsement of Trump today, he said Trump the extreme campaigner would moderate as Trump the nominee.
"There’s two Donald Trumps. There’s the Donald Trump that you see on television and who gets out in front of big audiences, and there’s the Donald Trump behind the scenes. They’re not the same person. One’s very much an entertainer, and one is actually a thinking individual.”
Carson may know brain surgery, but he doesn't know history. The parallel between Trump and Hitler is not the level of their racist and violent rhetoric, it's that they both used such rhetoric to mobilize their followers and gain new adherents.
2016 America is not 1932 Germany. But if one candidate in 2016 learned how to take over a party's base by appealing to the lowest fears and hatreds of the electorate, it's Donald Trump. That is a valid parallel to the rise to power of Adolf Hitler 84 years ago. We ignore that parallel at our peril.
Walt Zlotow

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home