'Advantage Deutschland'

Editor:

Many commentators have suggested that Trump is or may become another Hitler, but I find the comparison strained (NCJ Daily, April 10). Yes, they’re both men of mediocre intellect with a noxious “charisma” that convinced large numbers of voters to support their quests for dictatorial power, but is it fair to say they’re the same just because they’re both grotesque and evil?

There are significant differences. After all, Hitler was at least a self-made man, a good soldier and, supposedly, a mesmerizing orator. (My German isn’t good enough to judge.) Yes, he was a psycho racist, a mass murderer, and history’s greatest monster, but he had redeeming qualities. Trump on the other hand, is maybe good for a chuckle when he tries to play the president on TV, but what else can one say in his behalf?

And let’s compare the electorates that supported these monsters; which committed the more egregious electoral error/sin? The voters of the Weimar Republic had a lot of reasons to make horrible choices in 1933 — they had lost the worst war in history, experienced hyperinflation and the collapse of their economy, seen the price of strudel skyrocket, etc. — but they still didn’t give Hitler a majority. (And probably wouldn’t have voted for him if he’d come back from Argentina in 1949 and run again.)

Our electorate, on the other hand, was just bored and uncomfortable with a Black woman telling them what to do, so it elected a moron who promised, in perhaps his only truthful statements ever, that he would impose insane tariffs, brutalize people of color and get revenge on anyone who rejected his ridiculous lie that the Democrats “stole” the 2020 election. Advantage Deutschland.

It’s too early to tell how this will come out, but if Trump keeps up his momentum he could make Hitler look like Adlai Stevenson.

Bill Hassler, McKinleyville