An old buddy of mine was taking some shit on facebook from another old buddy of mine because the former compared Trump to Hitler. Of course, I had to weigh in:
Personally, I think the exacting "has to have killed six million Jews" test for Hitler comparisons is just straight up unreasonable.'Nuff said. Well, okay, one more thing. Godwin's Law is not always applicable.
Hitler did LOTS of bad shit besides the Holocaust. Concentration camps, for instance, something very much like interning illegal immigrants today. Or making various non-Aryan ethnicities, like Jews and Gypsies, register with the government. Or torture. Or aggressive war. Or extreme nationalism. Stuff that is offered as serious policy in the twenty first century by Republicans.
And all these things we also identify with Hitler. But it's considered out-of-bounds by many to make the comparison unless the subject being compared killed six million Jews. I call bullshit on that.
The whole point to making the Hitler comparison is to show where the lesser transgressions necessarily lead. And extreme nationalism, singling out various minorities as the enemy, torturing, invading other nations without just cause, all these things lead ultimately to devaluing human life. And that's the fertile ground you need to plant a new holocaust.
Yeah, it's an overused comparison, especially by Republicans who live in WWII in their minds. But it's a good comparison. I'm afraid of these people. They are bad for the nation, for our national soul. And the "reasonable Republicans" are in bed with the Nazi Republicans: they refuse to call them out for their hate and evil.
For that matter, the Republicans aren't too terribly good on making right the horrible sins of our own American Holocausts, against American Indians, and against African Americans. I mean, the Democrats aren't great on this, but at least they acknowledge it as a great national sin. Republicans just get pissed off when you mention it.
Hitler is totally appropriate.
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