For years, Trump has used the language of dictators, using phrases such as “enemy of the people” (referring to the press), “retribution” and suggesting political violence against political opponents. However, more recently it seems darker. He announced an extreme plan to arm the government with a weapon to take revenge on its former allies. The Washington Post (November 13, 2023) reported that Trump’s language directly imitates that of Adolf Hitler:
- Trump compares his political opponents to “vermin” and suggests they represent a more dangerous “threat from within” than threats from outside our borders. These are two themes that brutal dictators have seized upon. (Hitler’s original comment: “1) “Should I not also have the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race which multiplies like vermin? »
- Trump suggested that vermin be “rooted out,” Hitler’s term for Jews; Hitler said, “While the flower of the nation’s virility was dying at the front, there was time enough, at least among us, to exterminate this vermin,” referring to the Jews.
- He dehumanizes people and suggests that these “sinister” internal forces represent the greatest threat to our country. The aim of this Hitlerian rhetoric is to instill fear to justify violence or incarceration. Like Hitler, Trump refers to his opponents, immigrants and Democrats as “sunhumans.” By calling them beasts, animals, vermin, a narrative is developed to get rid of the people and leave only the “superior” race.
- Speaking of immigrants, Trump said, “They are poisoning the blood of our country.” They are destroying our country. He called them sick, rapists and thugs. Scare tactics are used to incite violence.
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