Hey all. Before we get into everything I want to make a few things clear. My intention behind writing this article was due to the many trending posts about Donald Trump that compare him to Adolf Hitler. I am not in any way, shape or form justifying, condoning or supporting his policies and opinions regarding immigration, scapegoated religions and cultures, reproductive rights, ect. However, I want to put the facts behind your arguments instead of just internet speculation.
To keep things short, I am going to create multiple articles that have different topics. My first article is on Trump's and Hitler's stance on Nationalism and Scapegoating. Please comment for insight on this idea, the current topic discussed and what you think!
Here we go:
1. Nationalism & Scapegoating
The appeal of nationalism while Hitler rose to power was Germany's defeat in The First World War and the heavy war reparations after being "forced" to sign the Treaty of Versailles. After a failed attack on the Russian Bolsheviks, Hitler began to scapegoat multiple other targets (Jews, the mentally and physically disabled, Romanies, Slavs, ect.) to boost the German national pride. One of the most famous examples being the depiction of Jews holding financial power over the Germans.
To keep things short, I am going to create multiple articles that have different topics. My first article is on Trump's and Hitler's stance on Nationalism and Scapegoating. Please comment for insight on this idea, the current topic discussed and what you think!
Here we go:
1. Nationalism & Scapegoating
The appeal of nationalism while Hitler rose to power was Germany's defeat in The First World War and the heavy war reparations after being "forced" to sign the Treaty of Versailles. After a failed attack on the Russian Bolsheviks, Hitler began to scapegoat multiple other targets (Jews, the mentally and physically disabled, Romanies, Slavs, ect.) to boost the German national pride. One of the most famous examples being the depiction of Jews holding financial power over the Germans.
Back in 2011, at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) Donald Trump delivered a speech with very similar tactics. Trump highlighted how the American national pride was/is wounded due to being "a whipping post for the rest of the world" because of OPEC and a variety of other nations. His main scapegoats of the speech were OPEC and how the members along with Mexico, China, India and South Korea, "view our leaders as weak and ineffective and have repeatedly taken advantage of them to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars a year." Trump also added how draining the rising gas prices were (at the time being $4.54) due to OPEC and the only way to stop the rising price was to essentially show OPEC who was boss.
With all this being said, I am not saying that taking national interest in your country is at all wrong. Taking interest in your nation's (of origin or adopted) history and applying it to modern day or embracing it however you choose is entirely acceptable. However, what is not acceptable is deciding which nation, culture and people are more superior or greater than others and scapegoating groups, individuals, cultures and ideas.
The latter is something Trump is continuing to do 6 years later. Just as Adolf Hitler's scapegoats evolved from Jews to the mentally and physically disabled to Romanies to Slavs and so on and so forth, the new scapegoats of the leading 2016 Republican Presidential candidate are Muslims, Mormons, ethnic minorities, ect.
Trump describes Hispanic immigrants as "bringing drugs, They're bringing crime. They're rapists." (June 16th, 2015) This is no different from Hitler's belief that Jews and Romanies and Slavs were swine and how that single idea fueled prejudices and hatred which created occurrences like Kristallnacht, Ghettos which segregated groups from general society and allowed mentally and physically disabled individuals to be subjected to eugenics and euthanasia because of the image Hitler and general society (stemming from his scapegoating) painted of them.
Trump stated, "I could stand in the middle of 5th Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose voters." (January 23rd, 2016) which is reflective of Nazi Officers and the SS organizing pogroms and having the ability to subject individuals to forced labor, beatings and even death without having to be accountable. Pogroms such as Babi Yar where 34,000 Jews were slaughtered and in the world Adolf Hitler designed, it was acceptable.
Trump's sentiments are already starting to perpetuate such a cycle. On November 17th, 2015 an act of violence took place at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood. A police officer along with two civilians lost their lives, and nine more were injured. Many individuals supported this act of violence due to the ugly picture that previous and current leaders along with Donald Trump have painted of Planned Parenthood and reproductive health clinics. Major conservatives such as Breitbart have even supported some of Trump's ideals (specifically his 2011 attack on OPEC and several other countries) with the argument that it is a "screw-or-be-screwed world".
Thank you for taking the time to read, share and comment.
As for links for further research I recommend:
3. https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/
Feel free to also check out the Research Resource tabs on the right side of this blog page. Lot's of websites which provide research and information.
Feel free to also check out the Research Resource tabs on the right side of this blog page. Lot's of websites which provide research and information.
