Hitler Envy

Comparisons to Hitler or the Nazis are pervasive in our media environment. What is this reductio ad hitlerum doing for us? In this age of tribalizing institutions, siloed discourses, and Elon Musk, let us take comfort in the fact that there is one issue we can all agree to continue debating like adults: I mean whether Donald Trump is (like) Hitler. Or maybe just (like) a Nazi. Or perhaps more generally (like) a fascist. Or (to give the issue more nuance) a semi-fascist. Or maybe sort of more (like) Joseph Goebbels. Or at any rate (like) an antisemite. This reductio ad hitlerum is nothing new. Many American presidents and prominent politicians have been subject to it. I came of political age with protestors chanting “Bushitler” in the streets with posters of George W. Bush drawn with a little ’stache. It is likewise the case that, while there are plenty of Biden-Hitler comparisons on the Right, there are good reasons for it to be a stock slur from the Left—not least because sectors of t

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