Trump Is Not Hitler
Regardless of what you believe about whether the US is starting to look a lot like Nazi Germany, absolutely nobody is allowed to be surprised if this turns out to be another Nazi Germany. This goes double for anyone who’s mincing words and saying we shouldn’t compare this to Nazi Germany because it’s not as bad as Nazi Germany yet.
There was a time when comparing someone to Hitler, and an event or trend to the Holocaust, was a sign that a conversation had turned irredeemably petty and uncivil. “Godwin’s Law” was created to identify the sign and trigger the appropriate response: an end to that particular discussion. Change the subject, or just walk away. Not worth your time to get upset. At the same time, we knew that Hitler and the Holocaust were absolutely real and terrible, and that we must be on the alert to stop similar people and events from getting quite so bad. Watch out, but don’t talk about what you’re watching out for, and turn your face away from anyone who does.
It’s like we, as a world community, have developed a collective post-traumatic pattern: we’re hyper-vigilant to anything resembling the perpetrator of this trauma, yet we’re also easily lulled into believing anything less severe than that trauma is essentially not worthy of concern. So while we jump and panic at the merest mention of authoritarian rule and fascism, we’re also heavily in denial when our own situation gets closer and closer to that threshold. Like an abuse survivor who after years has never been able to relax into intimacy and trust, and yet can’t help but get into more and more abusive relationships, re-enacting all the same scenarios with new partners, every time feeling totally sure that this time would be different. Instead of healing, we’re running from one fear to the next without any time to think about where we’re going. We might, as a species, learn to calm down and heal, but until we do we will continue to destroy each other and everything around us.
Trump isn’t Hitler. In the same way your new abuser isn’t your old abuser, and you’re clinging on to those few differences you keep thinking about whenever you wonder is this really any better? At least he’s never hit you (yet.) At least he lets you do what you want (so far). At least he’s nice to your family (as far as you can tell). At least he’s got good values (or says he does).
Trump isn’t Hitler. Hitler isn’t the only example of the kind of monster we use the shorthand “Hitler” to signify. Therefore, Trump doesn’t have to be Hitler to be as bad as, as worthy of scorn as, or as thoroughly resistible as Hitler. And what he’s doing? It doesn’t have to be The Holocaust to be treated with the same alarm and society-disrupting protest as one must treat a potential Holocaust-type event.
Be careful out there, and watch out for each other.
