First, some caveats:
Hitler was one of the most evil and destructive persons in human history, yet he also had some qualities and behaviors that allowed him to “succeed” under his own twisted terms in taking power in Germany and territory in Europe. (To a point: the loss of the Battle of Britain, owing in large part to Hitler’s faith in the feckless Göring, made winning WWII improbable thereafter, while Operation Barbarossa, the attack on the Soviet Union, was an idiocy that sealed his and Germany’s fate. Meanwhile, the Holocaust was nothing but gratuitous evil that did nothing to help Germany.) Thus, while I wish to recognize some reasons for Hitler’s success, nothing I write in this post should be construed as admiration or approbation for this monster in the general sense. Further, although Trump is a fascist authoritarian in terms of both inclination and actions, I am not implying that he is evil on the same scale. In my view, he’s a barely sentient animal with highly destructive but not genocidal intentions.
The thesis
Hitler succeeded in taking total power in Germany, and our justified fear has been that Trump wishes to do the equivalent in the United States. Yet Trump has not only failed to make progress toward this goal but has already made success impossible for himself and anyone who might succeed him. Let’s compare Hitler and Trump to see why this is the case.
1. Hitler was fairly young when he took power; Trump is demented and dying.
Hitler was only 43 when he took power in 1933, and he took on his totalitarian task with gusto. When he started out, Hitler did not have to worry much about a successor, since he would be around for a while.
In contrast, Trump is—well, you can see for yourself. He is old, demented, and confused, and he looks like a dying frog. Instead of planning world domination, he spends a lot of his time on the golf course. Further, because of his age, Trump needs a successor in order for the GOP to consolidate power (fantasies of a third term aside). But the GOP has no one who would be effective in the role (at least that I can see).
2. Hitler aimed to unify Germany; Trump purposely antagonizes half the population every day.
In its evil, fascism fundamentally depends on getting the majority to fear and oppress an Other, and the nazis of course selected the Jews. According to Gemini, however, “When Hitler took power in January 1933, there were approximately 522,000 Jews in Germany. This represented less than 0.75% of the total German population, which was around 67 million at that time.” Thus, Hitler was bullying a tiny minority. And he didn’t actually do much to them concretely at first: the Nuremberg Laws, which really began to limit Jews’ role in Germany society, were not enacted until September 15, 1935, and Kristallnacht did not happen until November 9, 1938. In short, Hitler was careful for a pretty long period of time about harming his chosen victims.
Further, while Hitler and the nazis were assholes that burned books, eliminated freedom of the press, held exhibits of “degenerate art,” and were in general a burden on the society and culture of Germany, they weren’t trolling the German people just for the fuck of it, nor were they picking parts of German society (besides the Jews) to exclude from the whole. They wanted everyone to be on board, and they in general tried to create their own distorted version of a good vibe in the country (e.g., the 1936 Olympics). Rather, Hitler spoke about reconciling the classes of society and unifying the Volk.
In contrast, Trump and the GOP choose a huge swathe of the country to be the Other: the Libs, “woke people,” LGBTQ+ people (trans people in particular), “illegals,” etc., and they relentlessly troll, antagonize, and attack these groups. But here’s the thing: such a strategy works in getting votes from the Deplorables—utter morons with a mean streak—but it doesn’t work when it comes to unifying and leading the country.
3. Hitler comported himself with dignity; Trump makes a daily ass of himself.
After WWII, the majority of clips one might see of Hitler on TV were of him gesticulating wildly during one of his speeches. The message was clear: Who could have supported this ranting, crazy mutherfucker?
If one watches an entire speech by Hitler, however, one sees that Hitler “ranted” only during the crescendo portion of his speeches and was actually an incredibly skilled and disciplined orator. Further, perhaps contrary to expectations, Hitler almost never made outright antisemitic comments during his speeches but instead focused on the themes of how Germany had been wronged and how he would fix things (there is, however, a fuck-ton of resentment, grievance, victimhood, etc., in his speeches, which one will find in common with the speeches of fellow fascist Trump). Further, on the international stage, Hitler operated with gravitas and discipline in addition to aggression.
In contrast… need I say much here? Trump has one of the biggest, dumbest fucking mouths in world history, spewing a nonstop stream of infantile, obnoxious, and offensive verbal vomit. The reaction to this effluent practically guarantees a hard division within the country: to the Deplorables, it’s hucka-rucka-haw-haw-haw; to anyone with an IQ above 80, it’s a rock-solid reason never to support Trump in any way.
Moreover, Trump in no way distinguishes his domestic and international audiences, subjecting them to the same radioactive moronitude. You know how to ensure that your ambition to annex Canada and Greenland absolutely never comes to pass? Say a bunch of dumb fucking shit that telegraphs your intention and alienates anyone who might ever support you, that’s how!
4. Hitler surrounded himself with competent but evil people (and some incompetents); Trump has only toadies and idiots.
One of Hitler’s flaws was that he was too loyal and indulgent to incompetents like Robert Ley, Wilhelm Keitel, and the aforementioned Hermann Göring. Unfortunately for humanity, however, Hitler also had Heinrich Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, Martin Bormann, and the list goes on. Further, he had worked with many of these men for a long time before he took power, and he was able to leverage their evil competencies quite effectively.
In contrast… sigh. Pete Hegseth, Kristi Noem, and the once vaunted Leon Musk have been total incompetents in their respective roles and, to add bad PR to injury, have said a bunch of dumb trolling shit that hasn’t helped the Trump regime at all. Other fools, such as Steve Miller have Trump’s self-defeating tendency to overshare, telegraphing strategies that should remain hidden and revealing to the world the bad intentions of the regime. To call it a shitshow is to insult shit itself.
5. Hitler made his intention to take total power clear from the start; Trump has no clear intention or goals.
Hitler led the Beer Hall Putsch in 1925 and wrote Mein Kampf during his short prison sentence thereafter. There was never any mystery as to his intentions. In his first speech as Chancellor of Germany, on February 10, 1933, Hitler said, “Thus we want to break with all the manifestations of a rotten democracy and place in its stead the everlasting realization that everything which is great can originate only in the power of the individual and that everything which is to be preserved must be entrusted once more to the ability of the individual. We will combat the manifestations of our parliamentary and democratic system, which leads us to our twelfth item—restoring decency to our Volk.”
Hitler had a plan from the start, and he made it known to everyone. He didn’t have to pull his punches or waste time pretending to the media and the people that he was doing anything other than he was.
Trump has given himself no such advantage. I really don’t know whether he’s sat down with his fellow fascists and openly said, “We’re going to take over this country.” I don’t even know if he has that thought in his head, though it is clear that he is, perhaps by instinct alone, moving in that direction (and has been moving in it since January 6, 2021). I have no doubt that nazis like Bannon and Miller do have such thoughts in their heads, but do they allow themselves to share them with others? Again, I know not.
What I do know, however, is that Trump and the GOP in general can’t openly say they want to attain authoritarian control of the US. Trump has toyed with the media a bit about it, saying he would be dictator “only on day one,” but then again, Trump is always trolling.
Not articulating what you want makes it very difficult to get people to rally around a plan. Trump and the GOP have to keep faking they are doing democracy as usual, which also prevents them from taking explicit action. If they have a strategy, it is to weaken democratic institutions and the morale of the opposition until the time is right for the putsch proper—but this is a weak, time-consuming approach, and it has delivered no results thus far.
6. Hitler took decisive action quickly; Trump has not.
Major dumbass and then-President of Germany Paul Hindenburg issued the Reichstag Fire Decree on February 28, 1933—not even a month into the Hitler regime. This decree pretty much gave Hitler all the authority he needed to do whatever he wanted, but the Enabling Act was signed on March 23, 1933—not even two months into the regime—and it was game over for democracy in Germany. Legally. Hitler still had to retain the support of President Hindenburg, who had the power to fire him and held great sway in the military, as well as the support of the people. Dachau concentration camp opened on March 22, 1933, and nazi oppression would gradually get worse, but as I said above, Hitler didn’t simply go random apeshit at this point.
Trump has gone random apeshit and has nothing to show for it but a huge chunk of the population that is more pissed off than ever. We can debate whether anything he or his minions have done has weakened democracy and theoretically put Trump in a position to strike later—but strike thus far he has not. Is the LA crackdown a smart move in the strategy that, per Point No. 5 above, Trump must keep close to the vest? Some think not:
Meanwhile, Trump, being who he is, can’t avoid conflict and has antagonized Musk, a person whose support would be of some use going forward, and whose opposition it would be prudent to avoid.
To sum it all up
Hitler was young and ready to pursue his openly expressed and planned strategy to take over Germany, and he had the men he needed to do it. He acted decisively and with gravitas and discipline, avoiding any gratuitous antagonization of key allies and the population.
In contrast, Trump is old and dying and lacks any clearly articulated strategy or intention. He has surrounded himself with idiots, and he hasn’t acted decisively or effectively to take power. He makes a continuous fool of himself and purposely trolls and alienates a majority of the US population, and he can’t maintain relationships with his allies.
Trump isn’t just going to fail—he’s already failed. Whether his intention was to become dictator or merely serve as an effective president (under his own demented standard), he’s cooked. His health is so poor that I doubt he will serve out his current term, but he will continue to degenerate and take down the GOP with him. If he’s lucky, he won’t spark an outright revolution first.
