# Are there "Germany in WWII" historians that discourage any parallels between Hitler and Trump? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [May 22, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313 "2026-05-22T17:00:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/1 "2026-05-22T17:00:41Z")
I hear historians all the time that draw parallels between early Germany in or right before WWII, and the Trump administration today, in regard to attitudes, words and actions taken by the government and its leaders. Are there historians that say any such comparisons between the two are spurious at best? ---
**Author:** ![Calder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e99b99/32.png) [@Calder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Calder)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/2 "2026-05-22T17:15:52Z")
Not any good ones that are respected, but probably not for the reason you’re thinking of. As a general guideline, historians avoid talking about events until enough time has passed that the political passions have died down and things can be looked at more dispassionately. Edit. Nevermind. Apparently, this professional norm has been steadily eroding for a while now. Particularly in the last 20 years. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/3 "2026-05-22T22:58:58Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Are there historians that say any such comparisons between the two are spurious at best? The word comparison does a lot of work here. I asked Gemini for a list of historians who deny a similarity between Trump and Hitler without being pro-Trump. But when I look at what the historians are actually saying, they are comparing the two. And they are finding similarities. But they are also finding differences. This November 13, 2024 The Hill article by a Rutgers political scientist/historian is an example: [The debate over whether Trump is ‘fascist’ misses the point](https://thehill.com/opinion/campaign/4986167-what-the-debate-over-whether-trump-is-fascist-misses/) > [@](#): > > In the final analysis, the term [fascist] is less important for policymakers and citizens than the components that constitute it. Let academics duke it out over abstruse definitions. I think that there always are going to be a lot of differences between authoritarian leaders who are strongman presidents as opposed to those who bring down a parliamentary government. At a 20,000 foot level, and allowing that everyone should be able to cite a few exceptions, I think parliamentary governments are more resistant to becoming autocratic, but when it happens, it can happen fast and completely. By contrast, presidential republics go bad more often but take longer to go completely down the drain, and usually never do. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 22, 2026, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/4 "2026-05-22T23:38:48Z")
(Edit, never mind, I misread the post) ---
**Author:** ![Max\_S](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@Max\_S](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_S)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/5 "2026-05-23T21:33:48Z")
Richard Evans put out an op-ed after 1/6 saying Trump wasn’t fascist, and nobody who is an expert in the field would call him one, because something along the lines of ‘he’s too isolationist, and despite everything, he hasn’t started a war with Iran’. ~Max ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2026, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/6 "2026-05-23T22:24:39Z")
Is he an historian? ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2026, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/7 "2026-05-24T00:51:23Z")
Yes, and an expert on the Third Reich…but like many historians not necessarily able to apply that discipline to current events nor does he own a crystal ball. > **[Richard J. Evans](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_J._Evans?wprov=sfti1)** > > Sir Richard John Evans FRSL FRHistS FBA FLSW (born 29 September 1947) is a British historian of 19th- and 20th-century Europe with a focus on Germany. He is the author of eighteen books, including his three-volume The Third Reich Trilogy (2003–2008). Evans was Regius Professor of History at the University of Cambridge from 2008 until he retired in 2014, and President of Cambridge's Wolfson College from 2010 to 2017. He has been Provost of Gresham College in London since 2014. > Evans was appointe... ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2026, 7:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/8 "2026-05-25T07:07:15Z")
Not sure he’d describe himself as a “historian”, rather as a “student of history” but Dominic Sandbrook, the host of the excellent podcast “The Rest Is History” argues that Trump does not technically fit the definition of being a Fascist. The conversation was broadcast on the “The Rest Is Politics” podcast with Alistair Campbell, who is just as convinced that he is. Personally, I side with Alistair on the topic. [Is Trump Really a Fascist? with Dominic Sandbrook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SAhkWQz3WDk) ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Gordon\_G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_G)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2026, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-there-germany-in-wwii-historians-that-discourage-any-parallels-between-hitler-and-trump/1030313/9 "2026-05-27T14:50:09Z")
OP asks about (1) Similarity between Trump and Hitler but some of the responses address (2) “Is Trump a fascist?” These are different questions. (1) Trump checks every box in the “Malignant Narcissist” diagnosis. The same label is often applied to Hitler but this is probably wrong: Hitler often demonstrated empathy and loyalty. Hitler had a well-developed ideology, albeit evil, while Trump has only personal greed, spite and infantile cravings. Beyond two obvious psychiatric symptoms, fascist methods, and “charisma”, the two men are quite different. (2) There is no agreed definition of “Fascism.” Madeleine Albright addressed this term at a seminar when she was Distinguished Professor at Georgetown. Noting that Italian Fascists of the 1920s included leftists, centrists and rightists, she and her students concluded that “Fascism should perhaps be viewed less as a political ideology than as a means for seizing and holding power.” And Prof. Albright has no problem applying the fascist label to Trump.