Is Donald Trump a Modern Adolf Hitler?
By: Deji Yesufu
Prof. Fasanmade is a father figure to my family. At over seventy, when a man of his age raises concerns, you want to listen to him. Prof. sent me a WhatsApp message yesterday night, where he asked me to re-examine the beginning of Nazism in Germany in the late 1920s. He explained that Donald Trump’s politics might be neo-fascism. He then provided a link to a speech Hitler delivered on the 10th of February, 1933. His point was that the same ultra-nationalism that Donald Trump is exuding could easily have been traced in that speech by Hitler. The biggest fear for him is that in the early days of the Nazis, they also rode upon Christian sentiments – even quoting Martin Luther’s criticism of the Jews as their justification for their anti-Semitism. Prof. fears that Donald Trump could plunge America into a global war – a World War 3. I do not share Prof.’s sentiments. I am not a prophet and I cannot tell what tomorrow holds. I would however use the remainder of this article to explain why I am positive Donald Trump is not a modern day Adolf Hitler.
Before I go into my reasons, I will need to provide certain definitions for my readers. These definitions concern political ideologies that have developed in our world over the past three hundred years. There is such a thing as political right and political left. I am not sure how these ideas were developed but the political right are usually persons who are generally conservative in their ideologies. They want society to continue on old and proven ideas; they are generally very religious – preserving religious rights and tenets, and they are very suspicious of emerging ideas and progressive thoughts. On the left, however, are individuals who are progressive. They are usually iconoclasts. They want to tear down established beliefs and institute new ideas that are working. They are usually not religious people – in fact, many of them are either agnostics or atheists. The French Revolution of the late 18th century pitched these two ideologies against each other. The right wished to preserve the French monarchy; the left sought to abolish it. The right sought to preserve the religious institutions; the left was convinced that these were the people who aided the bourgeoise in defrauding the people. Karl Max tried to reconcile the left with the right with the socialist ideas he wrote about, which eventually formed much of the ideologies of Europe in the early 20th century.
Today, however, political scientists see that no country can effectively be run on either right or left political ideas alone. Most countries will benefit from different measures of both ideologies used as each situation demands. So, every government would have to employ both progressive and conservative ideas to lead its people. The reason why Adolf Hitler’s speech, which Prof. Fasanmade referred me to earlier, sounded queer is because politically both Hitler and Donald Trump would be considered to be on the political right. Hitler may be seen as far right, while Trump is a little closer to the middle. It is this similarity in ideas that scares people about Donald Trump. The reasons I will now provide will show you why Trump cannot become a modern day Hitler.
The first thing Hitler did when he came to power in Germany in 1933 was to acquire absolute power. He made himself the Fuhrer – the leader. He became the maximum leader of Germany in a way that no one in the early 20th century had ever acquired power. He was deliberate in doing this so that all of his decrees could be carried out without being questioned. Donald Trump can never become a Fuhrer because the world has learnt a great lesson from World War 2. Trump has signed a couple of executive orders. Those orders can be challenged in courts of law, and the law has the power to make them stand or fail. Another thing is that the American Constitution limits the powers of the federal government extensively. The best Trump might succeed at is enforcing his executive orders in red states – Republican-dominating states of America- while his orders fail in blue states. There is also an intimidating press in the United States. Every day, political ideas are being debated. The right may have power today but they are certain to lose that power if they do not use it responsibly. America, regardless of who controls the Senate and House, will always have elections every four years, and the people will always perform a plebiscite on their government. Hitler ruled Germany as the maximum ruler from 1933 until his suicide in 1945. There is no way Trump will do such a thing. It will never happen. Donald Trump cannot be another Adolf Hitler.
Another point that we must consider is the fact that Trump’s nationalistic ideas are not entirely evil. They are natural. It will take purely irresponsible people to sit back and watch their country being ruined by foreigners, and do nothing about it. In the early 1980s, the Shagari government suddenly decided to deport Ghanaians. That was when the phrase Ghana-Must-Go became quite popular. Ghanaians had to flee Nigeria almost overnight with their belongings; they resorted to using plastic bags to pack their belongings. What happened was that the 1970s had brought tremendous wealth to Nigeria via oil. Ghanaians naturally began to come to Nigeria because there was a great demand for their expertise – especially in the area of teaching (Kwame Nkrumah had invested in training teachers and Nigeria enjoyed a great deal of Ghanaian teachers even to this date). However, by the turn of the 1980s, austerity had begun to bite Nigerians; oil money had evaporated; and the government blamed Ghanaians for this. It should be noted also that Nigeria considered expelling Ghanaians because Ghana had done a similar thing to Nigerians in the late 1960s.
My point is that every country preserves their heritage and wealth for its people and its unborn children. It is only Nigerians that eat up the future of their children – no one else does such. I digress. So, when Trump says America first, he is only stating what every one of us would do if we were in his shoes. Even ending birthright citizenship is a similar thing in this direction. If you and I wish to have our children live in a good country, then let us fix this country. There is no point fleeing to another person’s country to enjoy what their own fathers have done for them, while we mess up ours. Nationalism is a natural thing, and if you consider what is happening in the USA with the Democrat Party’s foolish open border policies, you will understand Trump’s nationalism. Donald Trump cannot be a Hitler because today Trump is the biggest supporter of Israel. In less than five days in office, Trump has effected the release of Jewish hostages held by Hamas since October 7, 2024.
There are many other reasons I could state to show that Trump is far different from Hitler, but I will limit my discussions to the two points above. The question another person might wish to ask is this: how does this all affect the cost of Garri in a Nigerian market? I will explain. World market prices are interconnected. With the astronomical rise in the dollar recently, the cost of fuel was hiked which led to the cost of transportation increasing, and which led to a congo of Garri selling for N2,000 from the N150 we used to buy it. If Nigerians understand that it is production that boosts a nation’s economy, they will realize that the work they are going to Canada to do can be done here in Nigeria, and they will earn an equal amount with time. It also means that if we think of Nigeria first, like Trump thinks of America first, we will bring in a level of patriotism to all that we do. We will buy Nigerian-made products because we are convinced that the money will return to a Nigerian trader, who will in turn do more business in Nigeria. We will buy Nigerian books; we will read Nigerian authors; we will watch Nigerian movies and listen to Nigerian songs more; we will promote Nigerian football and not the Premier League; we will listen to Nigerian preachers and buy the books that some of us sell. We will do Nigeria first, and Nigeria will benefit from it. This is what is making countries like China and Russia rival the United States today. These people are fiercely patriotic because they are convinced that a productive China will benefit the Chinese first, and they will not need to go abroad for a better life.
All the fears surrounding a Trump presidency need not be entertained if all of us are doing the bit we can to develop our country. Unfortunately, we have tied the apron of our survival to America and are now afraid that a Trump presidency will cut off that unhealthy umbilical cord. While a Hitler can exist in Russia or China, it is not likely that America would be able to entertain one. The blessing of democracy is that the people do have the power to choose, and America does not have the likes of INEC overseeing its electoral processes. In Trump’s first term, he was committed to fulfilling his electoral promises. He will do the same in the second. While people feared he was going to witchhunt his enemies in his first term, he totally ignored them. It is not likely he will do that now. He has just one term to lead the United States and he would be more concerned at leaving a legacy for his children, than becoming an animal like Adolf Hitler.
Deji Yesufu is the pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church Ibadan. He is the author of HUMANITY.
Share this: