RE: Why can't Trump supporters admit there is something wrong with him
June 19, 2017 at 8:49 pm
(This post was last modified: June 19, 2017 at 9:08 pm by henryp.)
(June 19, 2017 at 8:08 pm)Whateverist Wrote: Instead of finding potentially weak analogies why not look for ones that count? Here is one for you: like Hitler, Trump is against a free press (which he undermines by calling it phony) and engages in the spread of disinformation (alternative facts, if you prefer). He lacks the power to simply jail reporters and take over their operation, but if it were in his power, how much restraint do you think he'd show? He has successfully made many of his ignorant supporters doubt the press, though that didn't begin with him. Trump, like Hitler, would like to control what people think and wish to suppress opposition.
Yeah, he lies a lot. If you like your healthcare you can keep it. I did not have sex with that woman. I am not a crook. Saddam has WMD's. I assume every single politician in american history is a liar (or spreader of disinformation if you prefer). Seems weird to link that behavior to Hitler, though? Seems to me, the disingenuous intent is once again to say because of this, he's just as evil as Hitler. If that's not the intent, why would you pick Hitler for the comparison? It's not like people say "You know what I really don't like about Hitler? He was such a phony baloney."
And the same goes for being against free press. Hitler shut it all down. Trump responds negatively to bad press, sometimes calling the stories phony. Of course, sometimes the press pretends to be getting shot at (Brian Williams) or passes on fake documents without proper vetting (Dan Rather) or prints just about anything as long as some anonymous source said it, and if it turns out to be false, doesn't matter, we've got a new anonymous source telling us something new. Which all ignores the liberties that is taken framing the stories. And that's the good press. It doesn't even address the true phony press that is Fox News/MSNBC/Huffington Post/ETC... that have no journalistic standards whatsoever.
But all that aside, it's again what all politicians do. If something is negative, it's a witch hunt. It's lies. The story is wrong. From now all the way back to forever. But instead of all of them, again, for some reason, the comparison is to Hitler, who went far beyond 'undermining the press' by calling them phony. It's a weird choice for a comparison. I assume they want the implication that if he could, he'd do just what Hitler did. But that's just a guess, right? I think he threatens to sue them, and doesn't even bother following through on that. Although Melania sued the Daily Mail and won that one.
The point being, comparisons to Hitler "That count" have to be so generic and unspecific that you could say the same thing about everyone. There's nothing particularly special about Trump as it relates to his likeness to Hitler. Doesn't Trump a good man. Doesn't make him a good president. But for whatever reason, instead of having a very easy to win argument that Trump is a shithead, people bring Hitler into the debate, and force reasonable folks to be on the other side of the argument for no reason.
(June 19, 2017 at 8:34 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: It takes willful blindness to avoid seeing some of the parallels.
I don't think Trump is "just like" Hitler, but he's certainly stolen some pages from the Corporal's playbook -- plumping up fears in order to boost his appeal; identifying auslanders as a problem needing a "solution", be it Final or not; stoking racism and xenophobia as tools for political gain; putting his own interests above the interests of the state.
On the other hand, Trump is nowhere near as canny as Herr Hitler was. Say what you will, the latter was a genius for politics ... while Trump would have a difficult time leading a platoon to a latrine if it were suffering amoebic dysentery.
My argument would be that these are incredibly generic political strategies that have been used since governments were formed, and the fact that Hitler did some of them as well doesn't make them nefarious to the degree people are implying when they are drawing 'meaningful parallels'.
A venn diagram would be good. What things would have Trump, Hitler, and not many other modern world leaders? My guess is there'd be very little outside the main bubble for anybody but the truly crazy.
