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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
There are justifiable points of comparison. There are differences of course, but I also feel people overstate Hitler's competencies because he happened to be far more successful in his aims and was far more destructive in the consequences of his actions. Saying that "X is this era's Y" of any two historical figures is almost always going to be a simplistic and slapdash way of framing discussions anyway. Hitler and Trump are very similar figures - the main difference is that Hitler was an actual ideological politician operating within a liberal democracy with much weaker systems of checks and balances to safeguard that democracy, while Trump is an egomaniacal reality tv star operating within a liberal democracy with much more robust systems to keep him in check. Otherwise, they kinda have a lot in common. Sometimes even non-fascists fall down the trap of viewing the Nazis as a disciplined, efficient and competent organisation - which is literally just Nazi propaganda - and they were much closer to the Trump administration's bungling incompetence a hell of a lot of the time.
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."Edited by sgamer82 on Nov 15th 2020 at 5:23:08 AM
Hitler was a bonafide politician. Trump is not. Hitler was also a great orator who managed to grow a following of his own. Trump basically latched on to what was already there.
Imagine if Trump was actually a competent politician. That would be like Hitler.
Hope shines brightest in the darkest timesTrump tweet conceding the race, technically, since it has him calling the election rigged.
Trump was not a politician up until he ran for office seriously in 2016 (he had been a political figure before as the origin of the birther movement, and also from the doomed bid for President in 2000 for the Reform Party) but I'd argue that once he clinched the Republican nomination, he was from then on, a politician. He might have ran partially on the fact that he had not been a politician before then, and the whole "outsider to the political elite" shtick and the whole "country needs a businessman to run the country like a business" malarkey, but you can't be the President (or a serious candidate for President) and not be a politician. That's dumb.
Edited by GoldenKaos on Nov 15th 2020 at 6:00:02 AM
"...in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach."
x6 And he said the words "I concede": https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1327979630477922304?s=21
Also, folks here know that Weimar was a parliamentary democracy, right? You don't "win" elections in such a system and it's not the point, either; the point is to gain enough support in parliament for a coalition. And Hitler did get enough support in parliament for a coalition. You need a sufficient share of seats in parliament but that's not the same thing as "winning" as in a presidential election.
Yeah, people keep missing this but getting 40% of the vote is much more impressive in a multi-party system where there are many viable large parties than in a duopoly where you're guaranteed a certain amount of the vote because of lesser-evilism.
Hitler absolutely did gain his powers democratically, at least partially.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Nov 15th 2020 at 6:39:24 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangAt this point, we can assume Trump is Hulk's Evil Counterpart:
Trump: ME NO CONCEDE! ME WON BIGLY! RIGGED ELECTION!!! PUNY JOE!!!
"Wow, no Mega Togekiss in Legends Z-A. Or any non-Froslass new Sinnoh Mega Evolutions. Round of applause, everybody." - Dawn

As bad as Trump is, comparing him to Hitler is still pretty unwarranted, because it diminishes Hitler's evil.
The sad thing about Trump is, for all his bad deeds, there are actually a whole lot of populists currently in power who are just as bad as him (Bolsonaro, Duterte, Orban, Putin....) and others are even worse.
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