Originally posted by Eversor:
I hear you that the Nazis also equivocated and tailored individual speeches to their audiences, knowing that different audiences had different sensibilities and different prejudices. That definitely suggests some sort of similarity between the political savoir faire of Trump and Hitler. But I think there are still some incredibly important difference between them. One of those differences is that while Hitler was a deeply committed antisemite, Trump is not an ideological racist (we may have to agree to disagree on this point). He's used racist rhetoric because of its appeal to the Republican base -- and, I should add, much of the appeal to the Republican base was merely because of its transgressive nature (i.e., it was a rejection of PC culture and the condescending sensibilities, customs and mores of bourgeois liberals), rather than because of genuine hatred for minority groups (although I wouldn't deny for many that was the exact appeal).
Whether Trump is purely ideologically racist - like, explicitly believes whites are superior? I don't think so, but I think it's also apparent he has many beliefs that are implicitly or otherwise very racist, and any serious person would discard them after self-examination.
Just look at Trump's racist dog whistling over crime stats in Chicago. I've never met a person in my life who looked at crime statistics like that who wasn't also trying to push some sort of racist agenda. He pardoned Arpaio for violating a court order to stop racially profiling Mexicans. Trump has worked to increase arrests of illegal immigrants. Trump has cut off funding to anti-KKK groups. Trump refused to answer questions specifically about whether he wants to disavow white supremacists.
And just look at the other fiascos. Do you really think "millions of illegals voted for Hillary" is any less whackjob than "Jewish international finance lost us the great war"? Do you think there's zero potential for Trump to sign an "American Election Protection Order" before the next election to prevent all the illegals from voting again? What if he tries to take away business owned by illegal immigrants?
Whether they're plausible in reality? Who knows, but I don't think at all that these are out of range of Trump's desires.
Originally posted by Eversor:
The difference is that while Hitler may have offered more conciliatory speeches to earn the support of people who were more tolerant than he was, he made those speeches because he was personally eager to enact a radical, murderous policy towards Jews and other minority groups, and it helped him to gain power through their support. Trump, on the other hand, whipped up crowds with racist language, but he's personally indifferent to many of those minority groups, which means that he's occasionally willing to adopt conciliatory policies towards them. His pardoning of Arpaio may have been a white identity politics gesture intended to satisfy some of the most radical elements within his base. But also met with Schumer and Pelosi to talk about DREAMers, indicating a willingness to compromise that's far from where Hitler stood.
Ultimately, I think that matters. Even if I'm being naively optimistic, I think it points to some of the lines that Trump won't cross. But nobody's ever gotten an award for being not-Hitler.
Ultimately, I think that matters. Even if I'm being naively optimistic, I think it points to some of the lines that Trump won't cross. But nobody's ever gotten an award for being not-Hitler.
Do you have evidence that Hitler wanted to murder Jews from the start? I cited a book earlier which claims the consensus among historians is that the Nazi's platform was not genocidal until 1942, when they realized they would lose the war. You can mine a few quotes that suggest Hitler could have been genocidal earlier, but when I looked I found no direct evidence of genocidal, murderous intent from the early days of the Nazis.
As far as being indifferent to minority groups, I mean, we can only speculate about what he really believes.. but the track record of his behaviors makes it pretty clear he doesn't like black people or Mexican people.