Hitler expert says President Trump pulls from Mein Kampf to normalize tyranny

Ron Rosenbaum, the highly regarded historian and author of 'Explaining Hitler,' has expressed his views on President Trump.

In a piece published earlier this week in the 'Los Angeles Review of Books,' Rosenbaum notes tactical similarities used by Trump and the Nazi Party to normalize their agendas.

They include habitually telling lies, engaging in outrageous acts, and challenging the press.

Rosenbaum writes, "Now Trump and his minions are in the driver's seat, attempting to pose as respectable participants in American politics, when their views come out of a playbook written in German...The playbook is 'Mein Kampf.'"

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Rosenbaum further explains, "I came to this conclusion in a roundabout way. The story of Hitler's relation to the media begins with a strange episode in Hitler's rise to power, a clash between him and the press that looked like it might contribute to the end of his political career. But alas, it did not."

While most news outlets eventually stopped challenging Hitler, one publication, the 'Munich Post,' resisted.

Rosenbaum writes it, "never stopped reporting...on Hitler's use of murder, decrying any attempts to 'normalize' the tyrant. They kept fighting until two months after his January takeover. In March 1933, when the Nazis ruled the media and the Post was 'legally' shut down."

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He later comments, "The Munich Post lost, yes. Soon their office was closed. Some of the journalists ended up in Dachau, some 'disappeared.' But they'd won a victory for truth. A victory over normalization. They never stopped fighting the lies, big and small, and left a record of defiance that was heroic and inspirational. They discovered the truth...before most could have even imagined it."

Prominent Theologian Byron Williams is among those who does not agree with the comparison.

In a piece published by the Huffington Post on Wednesday, Williams writes, "Ultimately, all Hitler comparisons are statements of arrogance. It assumes that everything about this country since shots were fired at Lexington will be forgotten and without their sage warnings, America is doomed."

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He further notes, "I find the president boorish, peevish, lacking the requisite intellectual curiosity, possessing no appreciation for the institutional memory, who at times embraces a loose association with the truth, but that is a far cry from chanting 'Seig Heil' in unison."

Lorrie Goldstein, a columnist with the Toronto Sun also rebuffs the Hitler/Trump comparisons, commenting, "A Hitler-like figure cannot achieve power in the U.S. because America's founders...carefully divided the executive, legislative and judicial powers of their government, to prevent it from happening."