re: #58 LastYearsMan

What was really insightful about Michiko Kakutani’s review of HITLER was that even Hitler wasn’t really a fascist in 1930. He was a tiny little troll of little consequence … but it took the widespread breakdown of democratic structures to weaponize the little shit and turn the Nazis into the greatest evil of human history.

So, no, Trump isn’t Hitler. And Trump isn’t really a great fascist dictator. But he’s a symptom of a much great decay, and that decay could metastasize if Americans aren’t more careful. Civilization and progress doesn’t happen by accident; it’s a deliberate choice that people fight to realize every day.

After the Beer Hall Pustch debacle, most German political commentators of the era reckoned Hitler was finished, and he’d go down as a bizarre little footnote in German history. That was actually a reasonable assumption at the time - subsequent events would alter that view of course, but looking back to the particular moment in time, yeah…..I would’ve figured that Hitler had gambled and failed miserably and he’d never be heard from again, aside from as the butt of jokes.