Hitler for Dummies

So, let me just play along with this idea for a minute. I've heard this from the left, democrat leaders and the media for almost ten years now; Trump is just like Hitler, and republicans are just like Nazis. 

Do I have that right? I'm pretty sure that's what I have heard from protesters, and seen on their signs since 2015 when Donald Trump rode the golden elevator down at Trump Tower to announce his candidacy for President. The real question is, do they actually believe this? I think they do. 

Here's the problem, when asked, they can't give you any actual examples of Trump doing anything resembling the acts taken by one of the top three murderous dictators of the 20th century. Basically inside their minds, it comes down to 'I think Trump is a terrible person, and you know who else was a terrible person? Adolf Hitler." It's just that simple. 

Here's the problem with that statement; If you think Trump is just like Hitler, you may be confused about who Trump is, but you definitely don't know who Hitler was. 

Here's some quick facts from my Hitler for Dummies course. 

Hitler was never successful at anything in his younger years. He was an average German soldier who was wounded in the thigh during the Battle of the Somme in 1916, then spent the last month of the war in hospital after suffering a temporary blindness from a British mustard-gas attack in the trenches. When he got out, the war was over. He was convinced the German upper class politicians, and the Jews, sold out the soldiers and capitulated to the Allies to save whatever power and wealth they had before the war. 

That was 1918. Hitler doesn't rise to leader of Germany until 1933. That's a short time to go from a failed painter, to soldier, to Chancellor of Germany. 

(I grabbed some of this from Grok, since I don't have time to go through Winston Churchill's 'The gathering storm' here.)

After the war, Hitler was busy. With his charisma, oratory skills, and organizational skills, he became the DAP (German Workers Party) chief propagandist, delivering fiery speeches that attracted crowds and new members amid Germany's economic turmoil. 

In February 1920, he helped draft the party's 25-point program, which included revoking the Treaty of Versailles, excluding Jews from citizenship, and promoting Aryan supremacy. The party was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP, or Nazi Party) to broaden its appeal.

With full control of the Nazi Party, Hitler focused on expansion, using his oratory to rally supporters in beer halls and public rallies. Membership grew from a few hundred to over 50,000 by 1923, fueled by hyperinflation and resentment toward the Weimar government. 

He strengthened the SA as a private army for street violence against communists and Jews, while propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels (who joined later) amplified antisemitic messages. 

Inspired by Mussolini's March on Rome, Hitler attempted a coup on November 8–9, 1923, known as the Beer Hall Putsch. With allies like Erich Ludendorff, he marched on Munich's government buildings but was met with police gunfire; 16 Nazis were killed, and Hitler fled before being arrested for high treason.

Hitler's 1924 trial in Munich turned into a propaganda platform; he delivered defiant speeches blaming "November criminals" for Germany's woes, earning sympathy from nationalist judges. Sentenced to five years but serving only nine months in Landsberg Prison, he dictated Mein Kampf (My Struggle), outlining his ideology of racial purity, Lebensraum (living space), and hatred of Jews and Bolshevism. 

 Released in December 1924, Hitler rebuilt the banned Nazi Party upon its legalization in February 1925, shifting toward legal electoral strategies while maintaining paramilitary elements. He created the Schutzstaffel (SS) as an elite bodyguard unit under Heinrich Himmler, which would later eclipse the SA. 

The mid-1920s saw limited success, with Nazis winning only 12 seats in the 1928 Reichstag elections. However, the 1929 Wall Street Crash and Great Depression devastated Germany, causing mass unemployment (over 6 million by 1932) and eroding faith in the Weimar Republic. 

Hitler capitalized on this, promising jobs, national revival, and scapegoating Jews and communists. In the September 1930 elections, Nazis surged to 107 seats, becoming the second-largest party. 

In the 1932 presidential race, Hitler garnered 37% of the vote against incumbent Paul von Hindenburg but lost; undeterred, the Nazis won 230 seats in July 1932 elections, making them the largest party, though a November rerun saw slight losses to 196 seats. 

Backroom deals with conservatives, who underestimated him, positioned Hitler for power.

On January 30, 1933, Hindenburg appointed Hitler Chancellor in a coalition government, hoping to control him.

The February 27 Reichstag Fire, blamed on communists (likely arson by Nazis), allowed Hitler to suspend civil liberties via the Reichstag Fire Decree. 

In March 1933 elections, Nazis secured 44% of votes, and with allies, passed the Enabling Act on March 23, granting Hitler dictatorial powers to rule by decree. 

He banned other parties, unions, and opposition press, establishing a one-party state. On June 30–July 2, 1934, the Night of the Long Knives purged SA leader Ernst Röhm and rivals, killing over 85, to appease the army and consolidate SS dominance. 

Hindenburg's death on August 2, 1934, let Hitler merge chancellor and president roles into Führer, with the army swearing loyalty to him personally.

In 1935, Hitler defied the Treaty of Versailles by reintroducing conscription and revealing the Luftwaffe. The September Nuremberg Laws stripped Jews of citizenship and banned intermarriages, institutionalizing antisemitism. 

In March 1936, he remilitarized the Rhineland without Allied resistance, boosting his prestige. The 1936 Berlin Olympics showcased Nazi propaganda, while economic recovery via public works and rearmament reduced unemployment. 

By 1937, Hitler had allied with Mussolini (Rome-Berlin Axis) and, in the secret Hossbach Memorandum of November 5, outlined plans for territorial expansion through war, signaling aggressive intentions toward Austria and Czechoslovakia. 

Hitler's ascent relied on exploiting crises, masterful propaganda, violence, and alliances with elites who saw him as a tool against communism. By 1937, Germany was a totalitarian state poised for expansion, setting the stage for World War II.

A few bullet points: If you have not read up on Hitler's rise to power, maybe you think he was just voted into power like Trump was, so they must be the same, right? Um, no. Not by a long shot. 

If you back and look at that Night of the Long Knives section, Hitler and his boys went around to all the leaders of the Nazi party who weren't absolutely loyal to him personally, and murdered them. 

Let's look back at our top three murderous dictators in the 20th century...... 

Communist leader of the Soviet Union, Joseph Stalin, killed around 40-60 million human beings through the purges of USSR's military, its citizens, through planned starvations, and his brutal work camps in Siberia. 

Germany's National Socialist leader, Adolf Hitler, killed somewhere between 14-20 million human beings, not including those in war fighting. Jews, Gypsies, Soviets prisoners, pretty much anyone he didn't like, and he didn't like anyone but the Aryans.

Communist China's Mao Zedong is our winner of the murderer of the century. He killed his own citizens by the tens of millions. Through political executions, but mainly through famine and farm collectivization. His estimate is well over 100 million human beings who were killed. 

By the way, Pol Pot and the Communist Khmer Rouge Regime in Cambodia, get an honorable mention in the murderous dictator category. He murdered about 3 million of his citizens in the Killing Fields in the 1970s. He may have been the worst one, he just didn't have access to enough people to murder. 

Each one of these murdering maniacs we not elected into power through a free and fair election. Even in the German elections, there was active street violence everywhere, and political assassinations. Remember that Hitler failed in a Coup d'eTat that wound up with him in prison. He became Chancellor through backroom deals, then he went on to murder dozens of people inside the Nazi Party who opposed him.

Stalin murdered any political opponent he thought may be threat to him, even in the future. He murdered bright, young army staff officers because people 'liked them' too much. 

Mao had millions of young students who led the revolution, turning in anyone who had beliefs that were not in line with whatever came down from Mao. Young students sending their own parents off to be murdered for the revolution. These same students had a rude awakening after Mao was firmly in power. He didn't have much use for a bunch of young idealist, with a taste for blood and power, so he murdered them as well.  

See the commonality in all these authoritarian dictators? They do not want any opposition. None. Zero.

Now let's look at President Trump for a bit. You might hate his orange hair, his orange spray tan (although thankfully he's backed off both of those things recently) his mean Tweets, his crude talk, and generally, just his personality. You can hate all those things. It's perfectly fine to do so. 

You can be mad that he is enforcing the laws on the books when it comes to illegal immigration. You can me mad that he is sending National Guard troops downtowns in big cities because the local police chiefs and mayors of those cities will not keep violent protestors from blocking and hindering federal ICE facilities and ICE officers. You can hate all that, but here's the real question, do any of those things make President Trump a Nazi? 

When a judge issues an order to stop doing this, or says you can't do that, Trump says, okay fine, and follows the court rulings. He may appeal the ruling, but once there is a final say, he lives with the outcome. That seems to be the opposite of an authoritarian dictator? 

I just don't get it. Hate all you want, but calling someone, who doesn't believe in what your political side believes in, the same as someone who murdered 20 million people seems more like a mental illness and less than someone who failed their history class.