Since Donald Trump became President, there have been a strong chorus from the left of those who equate him with some of the worst dictators in world history. Most of these center on the leaders of the totalitarian nations which flourished in the 20th century: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and to a lesser degree, Benito Mussolini.
Those who make such comparisons are so unhinged from reality, and so ignorant of history as to make any rational discussion with them futile. However, in what will be an attempt to “tilt at windmills”, we will show how false those claims are.
Looking at Hitler’s record, we see the idiocy of this stance. Since Mr. Trump has been in office only a little over a year and a half, what had Hitler done in a comparable amount of time? He had established concentration (read death camps), the first one at Dachau. The German Reichstag, the Parliament Building, was burned to the ground, blamed on Hitler’s enemies. Purges of his enemies had begun, most notably on the “Night of the Long Knives”, where many of those killed were his own followers.
In addition were the Nuremburg Laws, passed in 1935, which relegated the Jews to non-citizen status. These prevented Jews from intermarrying with Aryans, and limited the participation in certain professions to only the Aryan “race”. In 1938 came the infamous Kristallnacht, the “Night of Broken Glass, where Nazis and ordinary Germans burned synagogues, Jewish businesses, assaulted Jews and ended with many in custody. Some estimate as many as several hundred Jews were killed.
The Wannsee Conference, in January of 1942 was held to plan and begin implementing the “Final Solution” of eliminating all of Europe’s Jewish population. Eventually almost six million Jews were killed because of Hitler’s policies.
Those who like to equate Trump to Hitler need to take a walk, like we have, through the remains of Dachau. See the administration building, the barracks, the gas chambers and look into the ovens where the bodies of Hitler’s enemies were burned. Then walk with us through the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Jerusalem, and see through pictures, personal memories and artifacts what Hitler and the Nazis perpetrated on his foes while he was in office. You will come out of that place realizing that any comparison of Mr. Trump to Hitler is a pathetic attempt to demonize someone you simply do not like. If you cannot visit Israel, go to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D. C., and you will be educated on the horrors of Hitler and the Nazis. If you cannot go there, simply drive the short distance to Terre Haute, and visit the Candles Museum on South Third Street. While there, talk to Eva Kor, a survivor of the Auschwitz death camp.
Most historians put the death toll for the war Hitler started, World War 2, at 60 million or more. Every continent inhabited was part of the killing fields for that conflict. Yet more and more leftists continue to equate the Presidency of Donald Trump with that most reviled of 20th century dictators.
So, where are the death camps Trump has set up? When was the equivalent of “The Night of the Long Knives” perpetrated? Have you seen the jackbooted, goosestepping storm troopers arresting, jailing and killing Trump’s opponents? Have “millions died” because of his policies? Have Trump’s laws prevented anyone from becoming full citizens?
If you wish to compare Mr. Trump with Joseph Stalin, your knowledge of world history is abysmal. Stalin came to power after the death of Vladimir Lenin in 1924, and he set about to eliminate his rivals for the leadership of the USSR. One of the architects of the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, and a leading figure in the early years of that nation, Leon Trotsky, was exiled from Russia. Stalin then sent assassins to kill Trotsky, and his hatred of his former comrade was such that he persisted in this venture for 13 years until it succeeded.
Stalin also killed an untold number of his own people in his quest to retain power. In the early 1930s, his policies caused a famine that killed up to ten million of his own people; in that same decade the purge of the army left the USSR without seasoned leadership when they were thrust into World War 2. Some estimate that over 50 million died from Stalin’s directives.
When has Mr. Trump hounded his enemies to their deaths? Where are his policies that have caused a famine in the land? Has he purged, with summary executions after sham trials, his rivals for power?
Much of this hyperbole is hard to understand. Most would claim that the genesis of that hatred of Donald Trump stems from his defeat of Hillary Clinton for the presidency in 2016. Even this seems inadequate to explain why Democrats, leftists, Hollywood “stars”, media figures rant on and on about every foible Mr. Trump may or may not commit. Many of those who spew the vitriol and hate probably have never meet him or engaged him in policy discussions, yet the vile ranting continues.
How are those of us who are “normal” to combat this kind of over the top commentary? One way is to make sure we are in possession of historical and political facts before engaging those who spew this slop. Always, if confronted, we must keep our own temper, and refuse to respond in kind. With the kind of nonstop “resistance” we have witnessed, and the unhinged comparisons of the President with the worst in history, expectations of civilized discourse are low, indeed.
Of course, the most logical explanation for the “resistance” is that those who resist are out of power, and that has loosened their hold on reality.