5.8 Why Trump can't be our Hitler
Trump is definitely an authoritarian. And you can make the argument that he’s a fascist. But he’s not a totalitarian, which Hitler was.
Hitler didn’t just want your obedience…
He wanted your soul.
He wanted to take it from you, and leave you in a state of total surrender. That’s what made him a totalitarian.
A key fact about Hitler is that he…
Merged with Germany.
He fused his identity with the nation.
This was expressed in the popular Nazi slogan…
Adolf Hitler ist Deutschland, Deutschland ist Adolf Hitler.
And in this slogan…
Du Bist Nichts, Dein Volk ist Alles.
Which means, “You are nothing, your people are everything.”
As Hannah Arendt said, totalitarianism is a…
Mass merging of soulless nobodies.
Everyone, including the leader, merges into the totality.
Hitler explained it like this…
“We must develop organizations in which an individual’s entire life can take place. Then every activity and every need of every individual will be regulated by the collectivity represented by the party. There is no longer any arbitrary will, there are no longer any free realms in which the individual belongs to himself….The time of personal happiness is over.”
Now think about Trump…
His ego does not allow him to merge.
Hitler’s ego had a fluid boundary. He and Germany were one.
But Trump has a fixed boundary to his ego. His ego is only about himself. He can’t merge with anyone or anything outside himself.
And while he’s doing permanent damage to our country, he cannot take that next step into something worse…
He cannot become a full-blown totalitarian.
“Make America Great Again” is just a slogan for him, one he uses to hook his base. To him “America First” obviously means “Trump First,” and nothing more. Nothing grander.
Hitler had a mission. He wanted to restore Germany to “glory.” And then he would personally bask in that glory.
Trump has no mission except…
Sucking attention.
Which is his defense against his childhood pain, against his feeling of never being loved.
He cares desperately about adulation and cares nothing about souls.
Given the breathtaking damage Trump has done and will continue to do, it seems like a paltry thing to say he could be worse.
But it’s true and at least we’re being spared that. Which is one thing we get to be thankful for. One blessing we get to count.
