FFS he’s not literally literally Hitler, clearly. Hitler died in 1945. But he’s literally literally acting like Hitler. Like I said, he’s a Nazi in everything but literal Nazi party membership. There’s more to being a Nazi than being a fascist, and he’s not only a fascist but he’s trying to BE Hitler. I’m gonna keep calling him a Nazi because it’s actually the best description of what he is.
This is exactly the problem. You admit he’s not a literal Nazi, but then you want to redefine the term until it just means “fascist who reminds me of Hitler”. That’s sloppy and self-defeating.
If Trump is a fascist, call him a fascist. Fascism is already enough; it carries all the authoritarian, ultranationalist, and anti-democratic weight it needs. When you inflate it into “Nazi” three things happen:
You blur history. Nazis weren’t just fascists; they were a specific movement tied to German racial ideology, Lebensraum, and National Socialism. Pretending it’s interchangeable erases the fact that fascism takes different forms in different places.
You hand them a defence. If you call Trump a Nazi, he and his defenders can instantly go “See? They’re hysterical, everyone’s Hitler to them”. The word loses its punch. If you call him a fascist, there’s no escape, it sticks because it’s technically correct.
You dilute urgency. If Trump is a “Nazi” then what do you call the actual neo-Nazis goose-stepping with swastikas? Once you’ve maxed out the language, you’ve got nowhere left to escalate when something worse comes along.
Calling Trump a Nazi might feel cathartic, but it’s lazy. Calling him a fascist is both correct and harder to dodge. Accuracy is a weapon, why throw it away?
FFS he’s not literally literally Hitler, clearly. Hitler died in 1945. But he’s literally literally acting like Hitler. Like I said, he’s a Nazi in everything but literal Nazi party membership. There’s more to being a Nazi than being a fascist, and he’s not only a fascist but he’s trying to BE Hitler. I’m gonna keep calling him a Nazi because it’s actually the best description of what he is.
This is exactly the problem. You admit he’s not a literal Nazi, but then you want to redefine the term until it just means “fascist who reminds me of Hitler”. That’s sloppy and self-defeating.
If Trump is a fascist, call him a fascist. Fascism is already enough; it carries all the authoritarian, ultranationalist, and anti-democratic weight it needs. When you inflate it into “Nazi” three things happen:
You blur history. Nazis weren’t just fascists; they were a specific movement tied to German racial ideology, Lebensraum, and National Socialism. Pretending it’s interchangeable erases the fact that fascism takes different forms in different places.
You hand them a defence. If you call Trump a Nazi, he and his defenders can instantly go “See? They’re hysterical, everyone’s Hitler to them”. The word loses its punch. If you call him a fascist, there’s no escape, it sticks because it’s technically correct.
You dilute urgency. If Trump is a “Nazi” then what do you call the actual neo-Nazis goose-stepping with swastikas? Once you’ve maxed out the language, you’ve got nowhere left to escalate when something worse comes along.
Calling Trump a Nazi might feel cathartic, but it’s lazy. Calling him a fascist is both correct and harder to dodge. Accuracy is a weapon, why throw it away?
No, stop it. He is a fucking Nazi. He is literally trying to be Hitler. Fuck off with this bullshit.
You can keep sounding like a meme and I’m going to keep calling Trump what he actually is; a fascist.
The truth will be louder than your tantrum.