The Pope never said Trump was Hitler. Neither did I. But, you did.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I didn't either. I asked a rhetorical question if by you saying about Trump, "He's a populist, kind of a "plague on both their houses" kind of politician" was that "sorta like Hitler, right?"
You may have been offended by my asking the question but it was a question, is Trump a populist leader in the mold of Hitler in 1932/33? Yes I would say so and even the Pope said so (he hasn't been the only one to draw the comparison BTW).
As for the covers, well that's an old story relating to the controversy of the Time cover and whether it was intentionally a play off a previous Hitler cover. Pretty sure I mentioned this before
Time Magazine accused of giving Donald Trump devil horns and likening him to Hitler with Person of the Year cover Time Magazine has been accused of giving Donald Trump horns and likening him to Hitler with its person of the year cover.
The magazine named the President-elect as its person of the year on Wednesday and published a portrait photo of Trump on the cover.
But the internet was quick to criticize the cover image with many suggesting the magazine subtly portrayed Trump as the devil.
Others drew similarities between Trump's image and a cover shot of Adolf Hitler.
Well, pretty sure if Time did that, it was exhibiting a much more devious behavior that Time normally shows. Now, if you want to maybe give credit where credit might be due, Nadav Kander was the photographer of the cover. There's a story about it in Time:
Behind TIME's Donald Trump Person of the Year Cover. But you can deep dive a bit on Kander:
Meet the Jewish Photographer Behind Donald Trump’s ‘Subversive’ Time CoverSo, was Time guilty of "comparing Trump to Hitler"?
Then I mention the Pope and his discussion about populist leaders and going back to 1930's Germany and the rise of Hitler. But apparently that is verboten because quoting the Pope talking about Hitler somehow "diminishing the infamy of Hitler"?
Yeah, I don't think so...in fact I think the opposite is true...and so does this Yale professor, Timothy Snyder:
Yale history professor: Here’s why it's useful to compare Trump's actions to Hitler'sTimothy Snyder is the author of "On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century" and the Levin professor of history at Yale University. Snyder explains how comparing Trump to Hitler can be useful despite the differences. Following is a transcript of the video.
TIMOTHY SNYDER: So the way to start the discussion about comparisons is to point out that Americans are extremely lazy about history. I mean that's one way in which were definitely number one among major nations. And one of the ways we’re lazy about history is that as soon as anyone suggests that the past might be useful, then we say “but wait it's not exactly the same and therefore I'm just going to discard it.” In that way in two or three seconds we give ourselves an excuse not to think about history.
The premise of the book "On Tyranny" is not that Hitler is just like Trump or Trump is just like Hitler. The premise is that democratic republics usually fail and it's useful for us to see how they fail. One of the ways a democratic republic can fail is Germany in 1933. There are plenty of other examples in the book, also from the left wing Czechoslovakia in 1948 becoming communist. The point of the book is that these things really happened over and over again and that intelligent people, no less intelligent than us, experienced them and left a record for us to learn from. So what I'm trying to do in the book is to help us to learn from that record so we don't have events like Germany in 1933 or Czechoslovakia in 1948. Just saying “Hitler's not like Trump" or "Trump is not like Hitler” isn't going to save us. Learning for the past though, could.
So, yes, I reject any rule that comparing Hitler to Trump or visa versa isn't allowed because
THAT my friends is an attack on free speech...
Frankly, by taking this extreme position you just add to the belief of many normal Americans that the left is bonkers and totally unreasonable. They are the dangerous ones who shut down open debate like what happened in Berkeley, riot, and are the real miscreants.
Does anybody else see the hypocrisy in the above statement? So, just because a position is extreme it means the position holder is "bonkers and totally unreasonable" and that these "dangerous ones who shut down open debate like what happened in Berkeley, riot, and are the real miscreants.".
Pot calling the kettle black much? Who's trying to shut down open debate?
Hey, I was all for having Milo Yiannopoulos speak at Berkeley and I was all for peaceful protest...I'm a child of the 60's and in the past I've done a lot of peaceful protesting. I even marched peacefully in the Science March. I'm not down on violence and trying to take away somebody else's right to free speech. Ann Colter? Bring the blonde bimbo on! The ladies of
The View successfully gutted her...White Supremacist Richard Spencer at Texas A&M? Sure...and be sure to schedule an adequate counter speaker, maybe somebody like Bill Maher could take him down (in a peaceful verbal sort of way).
Actually I enjoyed watching Milo Yiannopoulos squirm on Bill Maher's show and that was BEFORE the pedaphilia drove him out of the public eye...
So, if somebody was offended I posted text and/or images that compared Trump's behavior and rhetoric to Hitler in the early 1930's I'm sorry, it was not my intent to offend...it was my intent to express my utter contempt of Trump, his behavior and his divisive, xenophobic and misogynistic rhetoric. It was my intent to point out the real risk to the United States and our democracy if this big orange clown drags us down like Hitler dragged down Germany when he was appointed as Chancellor on 30 January 1933, in a coalition arrangement between the Nazis and the Nationalist-Conservatives. Yeah, I know it's trite but the quote from George Santayana "
Those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it".
Trump is president, but he's also very dangerous. It took him a long time to denounce the KKK and David Duke. White Supremacist Richard Spencer was yelling
‘Hail Trump! Hail our people!’ as conference attendants perform Nazi salutes in this video:
Hail Trump. Hail our people. Hail victory!. He has been very luke warm in his condemnation of anti-Jewish or Muslim violence. Hell, his "America First" catchphrase has a disturbing history:
President Trump’s ‘America First’ slogan was popularized by Nazi sympathizers. Add to that the anti immigrant rhetoric and his history of claiming Obama wasn't born in America, all of which act as dog whistles to neo-nazi and white supremacist and you wonder why there are comparisons between Trump and Hitler?
So, I'm sorry anybody was offended but I don't apologize for my positions or my posts...