Sometime after WWII, rumors began circulating that Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler didn’t commit suicide, but, clever man, escaped. It’s true, too, that Hitler lives. Sure, he’d be 136 today, just having had a birthday last Sunday. But he lives. Hitler lives in the hearts and minds and nightmares of those who see him in every political figure they, governed by their deified emotions, deeply detest.
The Hitler-label lovers’ favorite hated Hitler du jour is, of course, President Donald J. Trump. So it was that after comedian/commentator Bill Maher met with Trump March 31 in the White House, he became a Hitler-enabler. Apropos to this, making big news is Seinfeld co-creator Larry David’s satirical New York Times essay, “My Dinner With Hitler.” Such a thing would be, he fancies, the equivalent of Maher’s dinner with Trump.
Now, David is said to be the inspiration for Seinfeld character George Costanza, an inveterate liar and loser. And David’s essay may be defined by lies (ignorance and delusion are more likely). But for sure is that he has lost the plot and missed the facts.
This isn’t to say Trump doesn’t have much in common with der Führer. After all, Trump drinks water, and Hitler had drunk water. Trump has petted dogs, and Hitler petted dogs. Trump sleeps in a bed, and Hitler slept in a bed. Oh, my — we stand on the very cusp of Nazi tyranny!
Seriously, though, since Hitler comparisons are being bandied about, let’s examine how accurate they are.
Situational Fandom
It’s interesting to note that leftists didn’t always despise Hitler, or fascism, either. Just consider that, as the Laissez Faire City Times wrote in 1999, we
for some reason can’t remember that in the 1930’s prominent banker Otto Kahn [a “progressive”] said that the world owes Hitler “a debt of gratitude.” Or that Arnold Toynbee [an internationalist] thought he was a “man of peace,” or that the French intellectual Andre Gide [a liberal] said that he “behaves like a genius … Soon even those he vanquishes will feel compelled … to admire him.” Neither can academia recall that in 1934 the president of Hunter College [Eugene A. Colligan, a progressive] in America declared that Hitler was “destined to go down to history as a cross between Hotspur and Uncle Toby and to be as immortal as either.”
On a related note, leftists were also often quite taken with Italian dictator Benito Mussolini, fascism’s main founder. As the Times also informs:
Do we remember that socialist icon George Bernard Shaw highly praised Mussolini for his collectivist policies, or that the venerable Mahatma Gandhi called him a “superman?” Gandhi’s term became the catchword description of Mussolini for the cultural elite of his day.
Of course, the Left changed their tune, eventually, once Nazism and fascism were discredited during and after WWII. It’s sort of like being skeptical of Covid shots while Trump is in power, then mandating them upon seizing power.
Will the Real Hitler Please Stand Up?
This said, our liberals are known for their “situational values”; it’s part of the relativism defining them. In fairness, relativism infects too many “conservatives’” thinking as well, but our leftists take it to a different level.
Consider cultural relativism. Leftist Ta-Nehisi Coates once said, “What we call civilized is just the story the victors tell.” Fellow race hustler Ibram X. Kendi opined likewise. “Calling one culture civilized and another savage is just a way to prop up power,” he said. “It’s all relative to who’s on top.” And socialist Fidel H. Tollar insisted, “What one man calls civilization, another calls barbarism.”
Actually, that last one was Hitler’s. “Fidel H. Tollar” is an anagram of his name.
Of course, relativism-infused minds can easily justify violence, and Hitler is well known for starting WWII. He used violence, via his street-thug SA (Brownshirts), before taking power, too. And our liberals?
History’s two biggest wars — WWI and WWII — along with Korea and Vietnam, began under Democrats. And President Barack Obama reportedly said, while discussing expanded drone strikes in 2011, “Turns out I’m really good at killing people.” In contrast, Trump has been the first president in 36 years to not get America involved in a new war.
As for Brownshirts, we don’t have them anymore — left-wingers dress differently now. As I illustrated in “Violence, Inc.: A Leftist Enterprise,” however, virtually all today’s political violence is committed by leftists.
Of course, Hitler’s violence reached the point of mass extermination of humans. The “evil … scourge must be eradicated from society” was the idea. Only, the preceding wasn’t uttered by Hitler but by ex-CNN host and hard leftist Reza Aslan in 2019. He was talking about Trump supporters.
More Hitler Hits
Some more points to ponder:
- Hitler is also notorious for racial politics. And who talks, incessantly, about race today? “Racial politics is the only way to dismantle racist policies,” said the aforementioned Kendi. “Ignoring race perpetuates inequity.” This focus, generally called “identity politics” now, is central to the Democratic Party agenda. Moreover, with their affirmative action having metastasized into DEI, consider the following from the Laissez Faire City Times: Eventually there were “affirmative action forms which classified people by ancestry — first signed into law in Nazi Germany.”
- Then there was Hitler’s anti-Jewish prejudice. Our Left is also notorious for it, notably at colleges. In fairness, though, the Left is anti-Christian as well. There was, for instance, the American Bar Association’s attempt to purge the legal profession of Christians. More examples are documented in the book So Many Christians, So Few Lions. Two quotations stand out, too: “The heaviest blow that ever struck humanity was the coming of Christianity,” and “The deliberate lie in the matter of religion was introduced into the world by Christianity.” Only, these two lines are reportedly Hitler’s. Yes, he was anti-Christian also — like our Left (see 2008’s “Hitler and Christianity”).
- The Nazis killed people with handicaps, too — as our Left does via abortion. There’s a difference, though: Hitler ceased the practice amid public outcry, in 1941.
Our Left, however, will protest that it’s not hard right. Actually, it often embraces socialism, or some variation thereof, with Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) being prime examples. And what do you know? “According to author John Toland,” writes the Times, “Hitler himself said, ‘We are socialists, we are enemies of today’s capitalistic economic … system.’” Yet again there’s a difference. The Left will emphasize, “We’re not National Socialists,” no, no, the Times points out. “We’re International Socialists!”
Conclusion
Finally, the Times writes, The New Australian’s James Henry noted in 1999 that Americans often don’t recognize fascism
because they have not been taught that fascism means state direction of the economy, cradle to grave “social security”, complete control of education, government intervention in every nook and cranny of the economy — and the belief that the individual belongs to the state.
My, my, now, which of our major parties does this sound like, hmm?
In contrast, President Trump eliminated 3.2 to 8 regulations for each new one created during his first term. He thereby diminished federal control. What an odd thing, a “dictator” decentralizing power.
None of this is to say that Joe Biden, Barack Obama, or Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is Hitler. Hitler is dead. It’s only to say that they may have more in common with him than drinking water, petting dogs, and sleeping in beds.
Addendum: The below is absolutely unique comedy that draws its own comparison between the Nazis and a certain ideological group.
