The Hitler-Trump analogy is controversial. “Some of Trump’s critics – including Biden’s campaign – argue that Trump’s incendiary rhetoric and authoritarian behavior justify the comparison,” the Politico website observed recently. “Meanwhile, Trump’s defenders – and even some of his more historically-minded critics – argue that the comparison is ahistorical; that he’s not a true fascist.”
The former camp now includes Henk de Berg, a professor of German at the University of Sheffield in Britain. The Dutchman, whose previous books include Freud’s Theory and Its Use in Literary and Cultural Studies, has just published Trump and Hitler: A Comparative Study in Lying.
In it, De Berg compares and contrasts Hitler and Trump as political performance artists and how they connect with their respective audiences. He examines the two men’s work ethic, management style and narcissism, as well as quirks such as Hitler’s toothbrush moustache and Trump’s implausible blond hair.
In a Zoom interview from his office at the university campus, De Berg quotes the American comedian and actor George Burns: “The most important thing in acting is honesty. If you can fake that, you’ve got it made.” He adds: “The most important thing in populism is authenticity. The moment you’re able to fake that, you’re in.”
The article touched on it briefly, but the main difference between the two is ideology. Hitler had rather extreme views on race and religion that dominated his policies, and forced the mass slaughter of millions. Trump’s views might appear just as extreme, but they’re rooted in his own ego, not his ideology. He is a White supremacist, yes, but not necessarily because he believes all Whites are superior. It’s because he is White, so he must be superior and the rest of them come along for the ride, as long as they think like him. It also enables his movement to potentially embrace anyone, regardless of background, even people from backgrounds he disparages; all you have to do is pledge loyalty to Him, and you are in. You become “one of the good ones”, as long as you can ignore the occasional casual racism and misogyny.
Think of the Trump employees during the trial who spoke about how the Trump Org was a big family and they felt valued there, even while corroborating the State’s evidence against him? I think they did that on purpose, because they know as long as you flatter him he will tune out the rest.
Trump’s ideology is centered only on himself. So, politically, this makes him a bit harder to pin down. He can take multiple policy positions at once, sometimes contradictory, and as long as he is at the center of it all they are all logically consistent as far as he is concerned. And it takes effort to find all those inconsistencies. Why not just accept what he has to say?
Hitlers ideology was formed by his narcissism just like Trump’s. Hitler had more fully formed ideas and was at least somewhat consistent whereas Trump will just spout whatever will get him the most attention at any given moment. But if you look at Hitler before 1933, the similarities are really eerie.
People overestimate how ideological Hitler was. Mein Kampf is full of half-baked random thoughts.
Were Trump a younger man, he would probably also evolve more of an ideology because it’s easier when your bullshit is consistent. You can pronounce truths from on high and declare failures as incompetence while railing about being the only one smart enough to understand and constantly surrounded by idiots.
He’s much more like Mussolini.
Worth noting too that fascism itself is an Italian term, coined by Mussolini’s movement. It’s in reference to “fascia”, which is the name of that bundle of branches you might see being held by a Roman emperor in some old artwork.
His movement absolutely is. DeSantis is straight up Mussolini Jr. with his laws against citizen oversight of police, repealing civil rights protections, and increased censorship laws. Abbot is right up there with him.