By Shalom Auslander
Shalom Auslander is the author of the best-selling "Foreskin's Lament" and the critically acclaimed "Hope: A Tragedy" and was the creator/writer of the Showtime series "Happyish."
September 13, 2016
Before their recent meeting — and I suspect a few times after — Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. He wasn’t the first to do so, even in his own country. Vicente Fox, the former president of Mexico, has also compared Trump to Hitler. Cher has compared Trump to Hitler. Abraham Foxman, former national director of the Anti-Defamation League, has compared Trump to Hitler (although in fairness, that’s kind of his whole brand). Even Glenn Beck compared Trump to Hitler. We’ll no doubt hear it again many times before this election is over, and, to be honest, it’s a comparison that bothers me for two reasons.
I am a Jew — a New York Writer Liberal Jew, the scariest Jew of all — and from a very young age, I was taught about an unimaginable horror called the Holocaust and about an evil man named Adolf Hitler. The elderly man who sat beside me every Saturday morning in synagogue was a Holocaust survivor, and his elderly wife was a Holocaust survivor, as well. And so the first reason the comparison of Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler bothers me is not because it belittles the deaths of millions of innocents, but because, frankly, it belittles Adolf Hitler.
Hitler believed Jews were the cause of every problem. He believed extermination was the solution. He believed that the “Spear of Destiny,” the spear the Romans used to poke Jesus on the cross, would give him magical powers. He had an elaborately developed, hideous, deplorable theory of how things worked, and he believed in it deeply.
Trump doesn’t.
Hitler was a psychopath. Trump is just a con man.
Hitler had some opinions, he had some plans. They were monstrous and evil, and reason enough for even an avowed atheist to consider the existence of Satan. But I don’t recall Hitler flip-flopping. I don’t see him saying one morning, “I’m going to invade Poland,” and then “softening” his stance that afternoon after meeting with Sean Hannity. He didn’t decide to kill the Jews, then change his mind when his new campaign manager arrived. “I said the kill the Jew — singular, one Jew, not all the Jews. Just the bad ones.” Hitler was a megalomaniacal psychopath who should burn in Hell for eternity… who actually believed in something.
There’s a difference. Trump is a two-bit con man. He’s playing the fools.
Citizen Super Pac: 'Heil Trump' | Campaign 2016
(Citizen Super Pac)
[Trump’s favorite slogan was invented for Nazi sympathizers]
Whether he’s jacking up room rates 400 percent when his campaign uses his hotels, or spending campaign money to buy his own books, or blowing racial dog whistles and then accusing his rival of being a bigot, or lying about crime rates to win African American votes, or just plain old running out on his bills — it is all, top to bottom, one long con. A scheme. A grift. To make a buck, to get out of hock, to get some fame, to get his own TV network — the ignominious ends always justify the ignoble means. Even his run for president is a con, a way to gain even more power than this millionaire’s son was already born with. It certainly isn’t to implement any deeply felt ideas. It can’t be. He hasn’t got any. It’s all about the con.
And give the man credit, by the way — he’s good at it. He is, as he says, the best. The white nationalists are eating it up, and they are a tough, tough room. The guy is a fantastic con man.
But he’s no Hitler. Not even close.
Am I praising Hitler? No. I’m saying that if you absolutely had to find just one thing to say about Hitler that was positive — if you could somehow siphon out all the festering, maggot-infested sewage that filled his soul to reveal one razor-thin sliver to point to in his favor — you could possibly say, well, at least he believed what he said.
Which you can’t say about Donald Trump.
Is Trump a megalomaniacal demagogue? Yes. Is he a sociopath? Undoubtedly. Is he dangerous? Maybe.
[Mike Godwin: Sure, call Trump a Nazi. Just make sure you know what you’re talking about.]
Which bring me to the second reason the comparison of Trump to Hitler bothers me: This isn’t the comparison that matters. It’s the easy comparison, the one that leaves us — We The People — safe from criticism.
The comparison that matters is not, “Is Donald Trump like Hitler?” but, “Are we like Hitler’s willing executioners?”
Will we look the other way, say we didn’t know, stand silently by while millions of our neighbors are rounded up, while women who get abortions are “punished,” while immigrants are given “ideology tests” and our leader heaps praise on oppressive tyrants?
Well? Will we?
Are we that terrified? Are we that hateful? Are we that frightened, that cowardly, that selfish, that helpless, that cold-hearted, that dumb, that easily manipulated, that easily provoked? Are we so bereft of answers, so pathetically hopeless, that all we can come up with is easy scapegoating and blind fealty to Our Great Leader? Are We The People really going to fall for the dumbest, oldest, easiest trick in the book?
Because if we are, then we won’t need an Adolf Hitler to embrace that darkness. Even a two-bit con man like Donald Trump will be enough.

@PontifexMarximus Thank you SO MUCH...an excellent story...and he made some strong points.

I liked this one the most;

"The comparison that matters is not, “Is Donald Trump like Hitler?” but, “Are we like Hitler’s willing executioners?”

I - we agnostics. - are all taken back by the commitment and intelligence of the #religulous....It's like "why can't they see how foolish they're being"....but this sentiment goes the same for the Trump supporters...who are, quite often, also #religulous....

I leave you with this cartoon which helps to explain why so many are "willing executioners"

Thank you for an excellent contribution!

Well … he is trying hard to get his own personal war.

Trump is a pos like him

@Allamanda

The article states that Hitler at least believed in something, while Trump is just a con man.

Very disturbing comparison, when 6 million Jews were murdered.

Hitler be dead, Trump trying to seize power. If he succedes he can fuck up the world far more than Hitler ever did, and he's started building camps for those he deems to put there.

Hitler killed a lot more than 6 million people, btw.

I agree with you to a degree … but Trump has only been in power for 2 and a half years. He might try to follow the modern trend and get presidency for life and then do a Napoleon: Proconsul and emperor. Obviously the safeguards of the American political system don't seem to work very effectively.
I hope you will remain right!

@PontifexMarximus

True, it could get worse. This comparison may not be premature, as far as potential, but to say the comparison belittles Hitler is just wrong, because Trump hasn't done this yet. I sent the article to a close Jewish friend (we grew up together in the same neighbourhood) and he was horrified by it.
He said, "I'm so glad my great grandfather will never see this. This article is terrible."

*I'll add that I can't believe I am put in a position to appear I'm defending that heartless, warmongering asshole, Trump, in any way! I'm not. But nothing and no one belittles Hitler.
He was and will remain scum.

@Athena Did you check who the author of the article is?

[en.wikipedia.org]

@PontifexMarximus

Yes. Not all jews agree!

@Athena of course not … but it is always worth reflecting on the broader picture... without the millions of supporters and henchmen … and that applies to all dictators
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”

@Athena I must admit … I didn't feel particularly comfortable with the title. But it made me reflect on history in general … How many evil dudes become heroes in our history books.

@PontifexMarximus

I agree that it's important to look at the bigger picture, but we don't throw psychopaths in jail before they've committed a crime. We also don't say that a serial killer is belittled by being compared to a potential murderer because the serial killer believed in something.

We are in agreement about the title of the article as well.

Do I believe that Trump has the potential to do great harm, perhaps beyond our imaginations? Yes. Can he be considered worse than a man who has already killed 6 million Jews and many more millions of combatants because he is a con man who isn't driven by the same fervor? No.

I cannot wait until the next US election as I hope to see his ass kicked.

@Athena I wish you luck with these elections. I am still disappointed with Ms Clinton's sabotage of Bernie … I hope you can find someone fresh and courageous … Someone who shuts down Guantanamo and tears up the arrest warrant for Julian Assange and who give Edward Snowden a job he deserves. … Sorry .. just dreaming.

@PontifexMarximus

I am Canadian, and a huge Bernie supporter.
I am disgusted at Trump's actions and the pain he has inflicted on Americans... all of us, really. To see a man who heartlessly commits such heinous acts is beyond disturbing.

Hillary Clinton is terrible as well and her hands are just as dirty as his, regarding some things. She has done her share of conning the American people.

The arrest of Assange is an atrocity. Dealings with Snowden were/are also egregious.

I don't know what the world is coming to. To imagine it is scary.

@Athena many years ago I decided to move to an island in the Pacific, naively thinking I couldn't get away from all the crap. I was stupid indeed … we are just a very weird primate with destructive tendencies.