The New York Times recently crossed an invisible line.
Previously, when reporting on Donald J. Trump, the Times wisely eschewed making direct comparisons between the former president/2024 candidate and Adolf Hitler (or between Trump’s oratory and fascist rhetoric and totalitarian ideology, implicit or explicit), even when there is evidence to do so.
Trump has startled many (and validated others) with his flagrant and often deliberately scripted, cynical regurgitation of infamously derogatory historical references. This time his choice of words was foreboding enough that the circumspect Times acknowledged it.
“The former president’s Veterans Day speech used language similar to the dehumanizing rhetoric wielded by dictators like Hitler and Mussolini,” reads the subhead of Michael Gold’s Nov. 13 article titled “After Calling Foes ‘Vermin,’ Trump Campaign Warns Its Critics Will Be ‘Crushed.’” A follow-up by Micheal C. Bender and Gold on Nov. 20 states, “During a Veterans Day speech, Mr. Trump used language that echoed authoritarian leaders who rose to power in Germany and Italy in the 1930s, degrading his political adversaries as ‘vermin’ who needed to be ‘rooted out.’”
Vermin carry disease. For the health of a nation disease carriers must be rooted and stamped out. In such cases he word vermin was applied to Jews, Gypsies and Poles, among others, in Third Reich propaganda. Similar defamation is still a common dictator trope.
Referring to Trump’s penchant for demonizing his targeted enemies, Bender and Gold write: “Some experts on authoritarianism said that while Mr. Trump’s recent language has begun to more closely resemble that used by leaders like Hitler or Benito Mussolini, he does not quite mirror fascist leaders of the past. Still, they say, he does exhibit traits similar to current strongmen like Viktor Orban of Hungary or Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.” Both adhere to an ultra-nationalist template.
Nonetheless, whether or not he mirrors or reflects 20th-century tyrants, Trump’s transparency is (and has long been) crystal clear, albeit onerously rousing.
If reading, listening or watching Trump’s negative oratory is not convincing enough—or you’ve tossed it all aside as political stagecraft (at which Trump excels)—then read “George Orwell Reviews Mein Kampf: ‘He Envisages a Horrible Brainless Empire’ (1940),” an essay about a forgotten review of Hitler’s malignant manifesto-as-memoir. Or go straight to Orwell’s original 1940 review to read the rhetorical similarities. Then try saying it’s too early to worry about 2024.