The Real Trump and Hitler Similarity

The current pulse of FB's angry Cruz supporters: "Stupid" is out, and "Hitler" is in.  It is a stretch to say that if Trump and Hitler have the same popularity, that 6 million more Jews will die.  But if your candidate is in a strong second place, you have to come up with something to knock #1 down a bit.  Explaining all the positives of your #2 is far harder to do than posting one-word insults on social media and trying to use peer pressure to get your friends to change their vote.  No?

The Hitler comparison is not only lazy, but it is historically wrong.  Hitler was a loud-mouth nuisance with a 1% following when he entered the political arena.  Think Gary Whatshisface running as the Libertarian candidate.

Who?

Exactly.

In fact, It took Hitler years to gain a following, and he only did so because he spoke to a deep and painful resentment from the Versailles Treaty that closed WWI.  In other words, Hitler understood better than others what people wanted from a political leader.

I am reading a fascinating 1979 book called A Noble Treason by Richard Hanson.  It is about a brother and sister in WWII Germany who disagree with the Hitler regime.  They put their thoughts in several leaflets, under the name The White Rose, and are eventually caught and executed.  I will post my review here soon.  And I will recommend this book.

What Trump is doing to the GOPe in his campaign, and to the old-media with his absence in tonight's FoxNews debate, is nothing short of refreshing.  Watching the early angst in these two obsolete groups is exciting, and I anticipate fun days ahead if Trump can keep his momentum. 

So where am I going with the Hitler comparison?

The first signs of Nazi failure created a ripple which grew to a tsunami within the Nazi regime.  

I think we are seeing something similar in the GOPe and old-media groups - both with decades of dominance now in question.

A diary entry from January 1943 by German Theodor Haecker records his view of the Nazi Regime's new desperation as their Russian expedition in the East is showing signs of failure, and the Allies are preparing for the mother of all invasions from the West.  This desperation is exactly what I see in the GOPe and old-MSM today, thanks to Trump, and Trump alone:

One can already hear the howls and whines of the demons more clearly in their dread-filled phrases.  It is the last gasp of the crazed man who runs amok, just before the end.  An official call to hate!  The hate will certainly be found, all right, but it will not be the hate they intend, and want, today.  It will be different . . . 

The author adds:

The crazed man who was running amok was, in fact, far from his last gasp, but he was beginning to pant where before he had only bellowed.  The difference was readily sensed by those who were waiting for any sign or symptom of a change.

Indeed.