Just because Nazis like him doesn’t mean he’s a Nazi.
Liberals lower themselves to the level of the Tea Partiers of 2010 who delighted in painting Hitler mustaches on Obama posters and calling that political rhetoric.
If we’re going just by policy, Cruz is much, much more of a Nazi. Trump praises Planned Parenthood and hasn’t gotten gun-shy from any of the criticism he’s taken for it. Trump is not the supine theocratic thrall to Christianity that Cruz (and Rubio) are; he barely knows what a Bible is.
Here are some things Trump is, for a start: nativist, demagogue, ignoramus, authoritarian, islamophobe, vulgarian (short-fingered variant). But Nazi-- these aren’t the derogatory remarks you’re looking for. Move along.
The key difference is that Obama was never endorsed by the American Nazi Party or the KKK. Quite the opposite, they are absolutely livid about the idea that someone like Obama could attain the position of Commander-in-Chief. I doubt you could find even one member of either group with anything nice to say about Obama.
Trump may not self-identify as a bigot, but the bigots really love Trump. At some point it’s downright irresponsible not to ask why that is.
The point is there are much more useful descriptors than “Nazi.” The Republican party itself has gotten the solid Nazi/KKK vote for the last 30 years. Why aren’t they “Nazi”?
Unless someone is actually wearing a brownshirt, uses the Hitler salute, and has a dogeared, Hi-Liter/Post-It bedazzled copy of Mein Kampf, they aren’t a Nazi. Find a different, more imaginative adjective. And it’s neo-Nazi in any case.
I don’t believe Mitt Romney or John McCain or the Bushes were ever explicitly endorsed by the American Nazi Party or the KKK. The Klan did offer Reagan their support, but he had enough decency to immediately and strongly repudiate it, stating
“Those of us in public life can only resent the use of our names by those who seek political recognition for the repugnant doctrines of hate they espouse,” Reagan said. “The politics of racial hatred and religious bigotry practiced by the Klan and others have no place in this country, and are destructive of the values for which America has always stood.”
Add to that the fact that Trump supports creating a goddamn national database for all members of an unpopular religious minority and it’s not really hard to see how he’s earned the Nazi comparisons.
Was FDR a Nazi? He forced an entire ethnic group out of their homes with no due process, confiscated all their belongings, put them in concentration camps for 4 years.
Were Truman and Eisenhauer Nazis? They forced suspected Communists out of work and didn’t allow them to work, for years, keeping databases, using the FBI to disrupt and destroy their lives.
Was Nixon a Nazi? He corrupted the FBI, CIA, IRS, Department of Justice, and 5-10 other executive agencies.
Was [FBI Director] Hoover a Nazi?
Nazi is not a useful adjective. Stop, Dave. Will you stop? But, OK, fine. Use the word. I don’t want to be a Nazi about it.
If you think that’s an interesting contrast with today’s GOP, check out this Republican debate in which Reagan and George H.W. Bush attempt to one-up each other on who is more sympathetic toward the plight of undocumented immigrants:
He’s got the inflated self-importance down to an art, the hair is already pretty close and even Alan’s politics aren’t that far off. The only thing that would be different for Coogan from playing Alan Partridge is that Trump has some degree of actual power.
