‘Unleashed’: You Shouldn’t Call Donald Trump ‘Hitler’

That doesn’t mean you should avoid discussing the correlations in their political movements

by Darren Hertenstein

‘Deutschland wieder groß zu machen’ is a German phrase most of us are not familiar with, which translates in English to ‘to make Germany great again’. This, while not a campaign slogan of Hitler’s, was a stated goal of the National Socialist party after Germany’s humiliating defeat in World War I. Obviously this is very similar to ‘Make America great again’, which is Donald Trump’s presidential campaign slogan and so we’re clear ‘Amerika wieder groß zu machen’ translates directly to ‘to make America great again’.

The Candidate

Hitler, unlike Trump, was a master speech maker, but the audiences they encounter are very much the same. Downtrodden people (Republicans are tired of losing to Democrats in the Presidential election and want an outsider that projects strength) willing to listen, looking for encouragement. The substance is much the same as well, vague promises lacking details and simple soundbites repeated endlessly. The delivery is very different, however, as Hitler started very slowly and gradually raised his voice till becoming frenzied indignation — while Trump is very calculated throughout — with mostly even cadence and soundbite delivery. The end result is the same, a frenzied group of followers hanging on their every word.

Everyone was offered something by Hitler in a downtrodden Germany: jobs, prosperity, profits, military expansion, social harmony, restoration of German strength, promises to rout government corruption and deal with the ‘Jewish problem’. Compare that to some of Trump’s promises: build a wall (jobs, national sovereignty) and make Mexico pay for it, rebuild infrastructure (jobs), get rid of Obamacare and knock down regulatory walls between states (rout government corruption), get rid of Common Core (rout government corruption), deport illegals and ban foreign Muslims/Syrians from entering the states (“Muslim problem”), surveil mosques and create databases of Muslims (“Muslim problem”). This is only some of them, as Trump has a staggering list of 76+ promises.

On Sunday, Donald Trump refused to denounce the KKK (and David Duke, former Grand Wizard of the KKK) saying he doesn’t “know anything about David Duke” or “anything about white supremacists.” The fact that an American man born in 1946 can get away with saying he doesn’t know anything about “white supremacists” or the KKK in 2016 is completely shameful. We know he was lying, he knows he was lying and the media knows he was lying, yet they let him explain it away like it was nothing.

Conversely, Adolf Hitler had no problem denouncing people or treaties he or the population of his people didn’t agree with. He’s on record as having denounced the Treaty of Versailles, Communists, Capitalist financiers and Jews. This is a sharp point of difference between the two candidates, as any American born since the end of slavery should easily be able to denounce the KKK (and those that don’t are clearly flawed).

The Followers

During the rise of the National Socialists, Hitler had his “Sturmabteilung”, or “Brownshirts”, which were thugs that would make sure people fall in line with the party. It was common in the early days of Nazi rule for there to be impromptu parades of SA soldiers through city streets where anyone who did not present the Nazi salute would be beaten or worse by SA soldiers who would break out from the parade. Not even a well known American correspondent, H.V. Kaltenborn, was immune from becoming the victim of such an incident.

Hitler, who purported himself to be a great Christian, used the SA to beat up opponents, Jews and Blacks. Not very Christian-like behavior, and Hitler never denounced them for their actions, in fact his actions and speeches encouraged them.

In contrast, Trump seems to have an army of ̶u̶n̶e̶d̶u̶c̶a̶t̶e̶d̶ ̶h̶i̶l̶l̶b̶i̶l̶l̶i̶e̶s̶,̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶t̶h̶i̶s̶ ̶i̶s̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶f̶r̶o̶m̶ ̶s̶o̶m̶e̶o̶n̶e̶ ̶w̶h̶o̶ ̶g̶r̶e̶w̶ ̶u̶p̶ ̶i̶n̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶c̶k̶s̶, Authoritarians donned in trucker hats that all say ‘Make America Great Again’. Reports of violence against people of different opinions and races at Trump rallies have been prevalent early on and this week at a Super Tuesday Rally, not even journalists are immune. He has failed to condemn violence in his rallies, and in fact has come out to support it because he “enjoys it.” Trump has even gone on to claim that the U.S. Military would not refuse his orders, even if they were illegal.

The Trump Solution

We’ve largely seen the solution when it comes to exposing Trump in action already. The only way to discredit Trump’s presidential bid is get him to discredit himself, whether it be by attacking him with his own quotes or getting him to back himself into corners so he embarrasses himself trying to fight out of them. Rubio executed this minorly in last week's debate, but masterfully in debate this week.

Ultimately everyone needs to get out and vote against Trump, it’s the only way to save our nation at this point. If we don’t, we could be going down a very dark road that America doesn’t escape from, one where the U.S. Constitution is shredded and thrown in the scrap pile. Let’s step aside from the Trump rhetoric and rather than listen to what the candidates have to say about each other, let’s do our research on them ourselves. If we continue to listen to the loudest voice in the room, we could truly be falling for a snake oil salesman and drowning out the truth, much to our own peril.

Breaking:

After the publication of this article it has come to light that Donald J. Trump asked his supporters in Florida to take a pledge to vote for him no matter what, by raising their right arms in the air. The video evidence is chilling(below). We cannot continue to ignore this.

Other people in the media are starting to make comparisons of Trump to early Hitler as well(below). This is vital, and the point is we should compare Trump not to 1940s Hitler, but 1929 Hitler.

From Vanity Fair: Donald Trump has a fondness for reading Hitler’s speeches. Ivana Trump admitted this to her lawyer last April, saying he keeps them near his bed. The speeches are collected in a book called My New Order.

Even Louis C.K. is making the connection.