When Trump came on the political scene as a serious contender, the left and squishy right immediately started calling him Hitler. Words like “authoritarian,” “Nazi,” and “fascist” have been thrown around like beads at Mardi Gras.
I seriously doubt the leadership of these factions believe what they are saying. Unfortunately, their followers do.
I have seen strong minds succumb to this line of thinking: teachers, friends, lawyers, great political and biblical thinkers. It becomes the only thought they have – the lens through which they see every event. Suddenly, every issue becomes connected to Führer Trump, while every bit of news brings us closer to Nazi Germany.
This argument is a logical fallacy called “Reductio ad Hitlerum.” Coined by Leo Strauss in 1953, the fallacy says, “Hitler liked X, therefore, X is evil,” and thereby invalidates the opposing argument.
Yet this fallacy is the desperate argument of a losing man. It was used against Barry Goldwater, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and, more recently, Donald Trump.
In the 1964 presidential race, Goldwater was accused of trying to appeal to voters with the hardline, right-wing elements of Germany – basically the Nazis. This accusation was so shocking that Walter Cronkite shook his head gravely. When Goldwater won the Republican nomination, then California Democratic Gov. Pat Brown said, “The stench of fascism is in the air.”
Democrats were fervent in their comparisons of Reagan and Hitler. Steven F. Hayward, author of “The Age of Reagan,” writes that the liberals “used language that would make the most fervid anti-Obama rhetoric of the Tea Party seem like, well, a tea party.” Missouri Democratic Rep. William Clay said Reagan was “trying to replace the Bill of Rights with fascist precepts lifted verbatim from Mein Kampf.” An Esquire article accused Reagan supporters of being akin to “good Germans” in “Hitler’s Germany.”
Lest you think that credible people didn’t accuse Reagan like they do Trump, think again. Holocaust scholar John Roth claimed Reagan’s election was cause for “fear and trembling,” drawing parallels to the economic turmoil that caused Hitler’s rise to power. Coretta Scott King expressed fear Reagan would lead to a resurgence of the KKK and the Nazi party.
George W. Bush was perhaps the nicest-mannered president we’ve had in the last 60 years, and even he was not immune. Billionaire Democrat controller – I mean contributor – George Soros, said Bush displayed the “supremacist ideology of Nazi Germany.” A sixth-grade teacher in Washington, D.C., sent students home with an assignment to use a Venn diagram to compare George W. Bush and Adolf Hitler.
And this next one will sound familiar to those following the CBS/Stephen Colbert controversy. Former Vice President Al Gore once said of George W. Bush that his “executive branch has made it a practice to try and control and intimidate news organizations, from PBS to CBS to Newsweek. … And every day, they unleash squadrons of digital brown shirts to harass and hector any journalist who is critical of the president.”
Looking back, we can see these criticisms were patently false. It’s been 60 years since Goldwater and there isn’t anything close to the Nazi party in power in the United States. Reagan proved to be one of the best presidents in history. George W. Bush is now loved by the left. No one is being carted to a concentration camp and murdered, despite what is said of ICE. The media remains free to criticize the sitting president – even with lies and obfuscation of facts – with no consequences.
So when I see people arguing that Trump is like Hitler and patently evil, I roll my eyes. That accusation has been thrown around for 60 years and hasn’t been right yet. I am not claiming Trump is perfect – I’m just saying that calling him Hitler is a step too ridiculous.
To the Democrats and Republicans with Trump Derangement Syndrome, I don’t believe you. And deep down, I don’t think you do either. You just can’t figure out why you are losing the argument. May I suggest that throwing around this fallacy is part of the reason?
Next time you hear someone say Trump is Hitler running an authoritarian regime, that ICE is the Gestapo, and that Trump’s followers are Nazis, just walk away. The person is either given over to the media's delusion… or they know they've already lost.
Laura Clark is a wife, mother, and community activist. She currently serves as the interim president of Alabama Center for Law and Liberty, a conservative nonprofit law firm that fights for limited government, free markets, and strong families in the courts. Anything written by Laura for this publication does not constitute legal advice.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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