There are plenty of reasons why comparisons between MAGA and the Nazis are appropriate. However, luckily for us, Donald Trump and Adolf Hitler have much less in common.
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In the previous two installments of this series, we explored striking parallels between the Third Reich and the current Trump regime, the twisty paths that led to authoritarianism in 1930s Germany and the present-day US, the likelihood that many MAGA supporters would have made good Nazis, and how some of the current administration’s most notorious figures would probably commit Nazi-level atrocities if they never had to fear repercussions.
But what about the two men at the top?
How do Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump compare as dictator-material?
In order to highlight the danger to democracy and the rule of law that the US president poses, and because even the most history-challenged Americans have heard of Hitler, there is a desire among Trump’s opponents to insinuate that the two men are cut from the same cloth.
After all, it doesn’t have quite the same ring to compare Trump to Mobutu Sese Seko, even though that would probably be more apt since the Congolese leader was thoroughly corrupt and a true kleptocrat.
Yes, there are plenty of similarities between Hitler and Trump, but those reflect things they have in common with many authoritarians.
It should go without saying that would-be dictators seek to amass power, to use a minority group as a scapegoat, and to build support by promising to return their countries to greatness.
Sure, both Hitler and Trump tried to gain/retain power through a failed coup, were convicted of crimes but then largely escaped punishment, and seem almost comically ill-suited to lead a movement of pure-blooded Aryans/evangelical Christians.
However, in all of the ways which really matter, Trump and Hitler are nothing alike… and that might just be our saving grace.
Because, if they were, we would be, quite literally, in a world of trouble.
In the second part of our series, we pointed out that, ultimately, authoritarianism is about an absence of accountability.
In other words, authoritarian leaders put themselves in a position in which the rules no longer apply to them and they can get away with virtually anything.
The only question then is: What do they want to do with that kind of power?
In Hitler’s case, he wanted to conquer the world and eradicate various groups of people. As a result, not much more than a decade after he seized power, he had committed some of the worst crimes against humanity, tens of millions of people had lost their lives in world-spanning warfare, and Germany had been reduced to rubble.
But what about Trump? What would he do if he could get away with anything?
Well, we have a pretty good idea because, as a wealthy and well-connected white man, he essentially has been getting away with just about anything for decades.
Therefore, we know that he probably wants to scam lots of people out of their money, grope women, and possibly date his daughter.
As authoritarian US presidents go, that is the best-case scenario.
Photo credit: Adapted from The_Content_Apologist / Twitter
Having a grifter in the White House is so much better than falling under the sway of a warmonger eager to occupy the rest of the Western Hemisphere and create a Pan-American Empire.
Or a psychopath who wants to eradicate all indigenous people, or the entire LGBTQ community, or anybody who is left-handed, etc.
That isn’t to say that Trump’s efforts to upend the rule of law and to shred the Constitution aren’t bad. They are.
However, the way he goes about it is often so clumsy that even conservative justices are forced to rule against the administration.
A more capable team (led by a president not consumed by personal grievances) would be much more effective.
Of course, even a bunch of incompetent ignoramuses can do great harm.
For example, Trump’s foreign policy, i.e., cozying up to other authoritarian regimes while abandoning US allies and abdicating America’s leadership in providing aid to those in need, is not only doing incalculable damage to the United States; it is also short-sighted.
However, while some of these self-defeating policies may be rooted in Trump’s racism and xenophobia, they are not part of some all-encompassing malevolent scheme*.
In other words, letting children starve in Africa is not the goal; it is a byproduct of “making America great again.”
That’s the key difference between Trump and other leaders like Hitler or Russia’s Vladimir Putin, who have a masterplan and ruthlessly pursue it. Trump just wants to enrich himself, stick it to his adversaries, and be adored by his supporters. His aspirations are those of a poorly adjusted middle schooler.
Another thing that makes him a relatively ineffective authoritarian is that he isn’t really interested in doing the job. Trump likes the pomp of the presidency, but otherwise, he’d rather be playing golf — and there is only so much damage one can do from the 14th green.
Again, we need to stress that we are not saying that he isn’t bad, we are saying that it could be so much worse.
Imagine traveling back in time and trying to explain the situation to someone from 30 years ago.
Time traveler: The US will have an authoritarian president in 2025… and that dude is totally nuts.
1990s person: That sounds terrible. Is he starting wars? Are there concentration camps?
Time traveler: Not really. He keeps talking about invading Greenland, but mostly he is just playing golf, gold-plating the Oval Office, and selling stuff on the Internet. Oh, and letting other nutcases wreak havoc on the world economy.
And that is where, even though there are so many similarities between the Nazis and MAGA and how they each came to power, comparisons between Hitler and Trump come up way short.
Hitler was a monster who entered office with an evil plan and then set out to implement it — no one could have dissuaded him from pursuing his “final solution” and his dream of world domination.
Trump is an impulsive doofus who would sell out anybody at any point if the price is right.
Obviously, it’s not great to have either type of man in power, but we’d take the doofus any day over the monster.
*It is important to note that the GOP as a whole has such evil plans, the worst of which is to make the world uninhabitable for future generations due to climate change, because the party’s campaign donors want to make a buck now.
However, a more competent authoritarian president could do even more damage in this area than Trump, who is on a crusade against windmills and doesn’t seem to understand how batteries work.
