The theory of political leadership that Donald Trump shares with Adolf Hitler I alone can fix it" and the personalization of a political movement https://www.washingtonpost.com/post...res-with-adolf-hitler/?utm_term=.578e22a2cfe7 https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...8f9ae6-4fad-11e6-aa14-e0c1087f7583_story.html
In ‘Hitler,’ an Ascent From ‘Dunderhead’ to Demagogue Books of The Times By MICHIKO KAKUTANI SEPT. 27, 2016 It'scary how well this also describes Drumpf...... • Hitler was often described as an egomaniac who “only loved himself” — a narcissist with a taste for self-dramatization and what Mr. Ullrich calls a “characteristic fondness for superlatives.” His manic speeches and penchant for taking all-or-nothing risks raised questions about his capacity for self-control, even his sanity. But Mr. Ullrich underscores Hitler’s shrewdness as a politician — with a “keen eye for the strengths and weaknesses of other people” and an ability to “instantaneously analyze and exploit situations.” • Hitler was known, among colleagues, for a “bottomless mendacity” that would later be magnified by a slick propaganda machine that used the latest technology (radio, gramophone records, film) to spread his message. A former finance minister wrote that Hitler “was so thoroughly untruthful that he could no longer recognize the difference between lies and truth” and editors of one edition of “Mein Kampf” described it as a “swamp of lies, distortions, innuendoes, half-truths and real facts.” • Hitler increasingly presented himself in messianic terms, promising “to lead Germany to a new era of national greatness,” though he was typically vague about his actual plans. He often harked back to a golden age for the country, Mr. Ullrich says, the better “to paint the present day in hues that were all the darker. Everywhere you looked now, there was only decline and decay.” • Hitler’s ascension was aided and abetted by the naïveté of domestic adversaries who failed to appreciate his ruthlessness and tenacity, and by foreign statesmen who believed they could control his aggression. Early on, revulsion at Hitler’s style and appearance, Mr. Ullrich writes, led some critics to underestimate the man and his popularity, while others dismissed him as a celebrity, a repellent but fascinating “evening’s entertainment.” Politicians, for their part, suffered from the delusion that the dominance of traditional conservatives in the cabinet would neutralize the threat of Nazi abuse of power and “fence Hitler in.” “As far as Hitler’s long-term wishes were concerned,” Mr. Ullrich observes, “his conservative coalition partners believed either that he was not serious or that they could exert a moderating influence on him. In any case, they were severely mistaken.” • Hitler had a dark, Darwinian view of the world. And he would not only become, in Mr. Ullrich’s words, “a mouthpiece of the cultural pessimism” growing in right-wing circles in the Weimar Republic, but also the avatar of what Thomas Mann identified as a turning away from reason and the fundamental principles of a civil society — namely, “liberty, equality, education, optimism and belief in progress.”
I was born white, which makes me a racist. -I am a fiscal and moral conservative, which makes me a fascist. -I am heterosexual, which makes me a homophobic. -I am non-union, which makes me a traitor to the working class and an ally of big business. -I am a Christian, which makes me an infidel. -I am proud of my heritage and our inclusive North American culture, which makes me a xenophobe. -I value my safety and that of my family; therefore I appreciate the police and the legal system, which makes me a right-wing extremist. -I believe in the defense and protection of the homeland by all citizens, which makes me a militarist. -I believe that people who are illegally in America should not be given amnesty and benefits, which makes me anti-immigrant. -I believe that minorities with “C+” averages should not be admitted to medical and law schools in place of white students with “A” averages, which makes me intolerant and insensitive. And now I’m not sure which bathroom I should use.