The theory of political leadership that Donald Trump shares with Adolf Hitler
A savior complex may have befallen some of them, but who was bold enough to voice it so plainly as Trump?
.. No resemblance has been stronger than Trump’s claim that he “alone” could rescue America from its misery. Hitler famously conjured the model of “the genius, the great man” who alone held the key to a country’s destiny. Calling democracy “a joke,” Hitler fiercely disdained what he called “weak majorities.” Progress and civilization could be achieved only through “the genius and energy of a great personality,”
.. Among the great personalities he included Frederick the Great of Prussia, Napoleon Bonaparte, Otto von Bismarck and, by implication, himself.
.. Trump’s analog is: “Trust me.” Leading up to his “I alone” moment at last week’s convention was a long string of assertions by Trump that we just have to trust him — trust him to solve problems and implement even implausibly ambitious programs like rounding up 11 million undocumented immigrants.
When challenged during the primaries for programs or plans on how he would carry out his extreme policy proposals, he habitually fell back on “trust me” or variations such as his “unbelievable ability” to “get things done.”
.. Citing one of his books, Trump explained his unique ability to sense terrorism coming when all others are blind: “I predicted terrorism because I can feel it. I can feel it like a good location.”
.. He accused Germany, Japan and South Korea of playing the United States “for suckers” on defense spending and asserted: “They should pay us, pay us substantially, and they will if I ask them. If somebody else asks them, they won’t.”
.. Deflecting calls for specifics with assertions of superior ability is a technique that Hitler used, too.
.. By shifting to the magical realism of God-given prescience, Hitler made it easier for people to discard skepticism, shelve their demands for actual solutions and excuse all of the coarseness they saw in the candidate. If this guy has the secret potion — he says he does! — I’m going with him.
.. he claimed not to know that his “America First” slogan was also used for an isolationist movement that flirted with Nazi-sympathizing in the 1930s and early 1940s. Although Trump may know nothing of Hitler’s techniques, his instincts are uncannily reminiscent of them.