As the Supreme Court Abandons America, It’s Not Wrong to Evoke 1933 Nazi Germany and Hitler
Such a conversation may be well past its sell-by date, and even I fell for that argument, but that was before the Supreme Court caved in and enabled an American dictator.
Adolph Hitler:
Emphasized racial purity and German victimhood. Blamed Jews, communists, and international elites for Germany’s problems. Language of existential crisis: Germany was under siege, needing salvation. Example: “The Jew is the great master of lies. Falsehood and duplicity are the weapons with which he fights.” The rantings are unmistakable. “How long must Germany carry this burden,” he thundered.
Donald Trump:
Employing stark comparisons: the Orange Man pits ‘real Americans’ vs. immigrants, elites, Democrats, or the media. He portrays America as being “taken advantage of” by outsiders (China, Mexico, NATO, Canada and all of Europe). Complains endlessly about crowd size. Painted the 2016 election as a battle between “the people” and a “rigged system,” then jails and deports those citizens without trial.
Example: “The fake news media is the enemy of the American people.”
The Burden of Trump
With Donald Trump, the burden is more subtle—but more dangerous in a nation that prides itself on truth and law. It is the burden of democratic fragility.
“A Republic, Madam,” Benjamin Franklin replied when queried about the form of government the Constitutional Convention had provided, “if you can keep it.” We now know that a modern democracy can be shaken not just by tanks, but by tweets. Not by censorship, but by an endless firehose of lies. Not by secret police, but by the hollowing out of civic trust.
His genius, if it can be called that, is in showing how resentment can be rebranded as patriotism, how a nation’s deepest fractures can be mined for power, and how truth itself can be declared partisan. And so the burden quickly becomes cultural fatigue: fact-checking every lie (34,000 in his first term), resisting every deflection, holding the line while others shrug. Adolph didn’t have social media, just searchlights and swastikas, but his ‘Brownshirts’ terrorized the streets, just as Trump’s goon-squad ICE enforcers kidnap students and citizens. Some quarter million deportation flights took off with chained and head-shaven deportees, after the Supreme Court forbid such flights.
Trump simply does not give a damn.
A comparison of Hitler’s destruction of Democratic Germany, and Trump’s attempt along the same lines in America is not a forbidden topic, at least not yet.
Hitler – Germany (Weimar Republic → Nazi State)
Adolph came to power legally in 1933, appointed Chancellor through political dealmaking. He used the Reichstag Fire to push the Enabling Act, giving him dictatorial powers.
Banned all opposition parties. Within months, Germany became a one-party fascist state. Dismantled democratic institutions quickly and thoroughly, from courts to press.
Result: Total destruction of the Weimar Republic. Hitler abolished democracy and created a fully authoritarian regime.
Trump – United States
Elected President in 2016 through the electoral process. Constantly undermined democratic norms: attacking the press, judiciary, and civil service. Rejected peaceful transfer of power in 2020, incited mob violence at the Capitol on Jan. 6. Tried to subvert election outcomes through pressure on officials, lawsuits, and false claims.
Result: Democratic norms were damaged but not destroyed. Institutions held, but only narrowly—and the precedent remains toxic.
We are tired, we Americans, tired of hatreds, and tired of peaceful resistance under police batons, teargas and the military in our streets.
It was never supposed to be this way, but somehow representative government slipped though our fingers. Over the past seventy years, a lifetime for most, and more than a lifetime for many, both of our political parties forgot who they were assigned to represent. Perhaps ‘assigned’ is too strong a word, but Republicans largely tended to business interests and Democrats held forth for those who turned the wheels of business.
Currently, we have a one-party representative government, owned and operated by financial elites, the best government that money can buy.
It’s instructive to understand why a politician would spend tens of millions of dollars to inhabit an office that pays a $275,000 salary. The meal itself is scant, but the gravy is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams.
Conclusion:
Adolf Hitler succeeded in dismantling the German government through swift, brutal consolidation of power, using fear, propaganda, and legal manipulation. He left no opposition, no independent judiciary, no free press—only a machine of the state under his absolute control.
Oh, and one other small matter; the near total destruction of Europe.
Trump attempted to destabilize the U.S. government from within, testing its limits through lies, division, and loyalty-based governance. He failed to overthrow democracy (at least so far), but succeeded in exposing its vulnerabilities—many of which remain unhealed.
So, what’s it all mean, and why should we care?
Germany teaches us what happens when institutions fall.
America teaches us how close they can come to falling—with many not noticing until it’s nearly too late.
As Mark Twain said 100 years ago, “history doesn’t necessarily repeat, but it rhymes.’
My personal conclusion, is that we dare not be deaf to the poetry.