Barely an hour goes by when someone, somewhere doesn’t indulge in a bit of Trump bashing. It’s a popular pastime, and say what you want about the US President, and god knows we do, but by now he should have developed a thicker skin than a buffalo hide when it comes to warding off the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.
Except he hasn’t!
Despite being a target for constant ridicule and perpetual scorn, which is part and parcel of the modern politician’s job description, Trump has failed to develop a healthy response to criticism.
Rather than let the scorn and spite drip off his back like water from a duck, his hackles go up and he gets all prickly the minute someone deviates from the standard sycophantic script.
Like most egomaniacs, Trump tends to lash out and hard, at anyone who tramples over his sensibilities or calls him out for being a bit of a tasteless idiot or hopeless hypocrite.
Like the archetypal bully, Trump is extremely sensitive when it comes to hurty words and a few home truths. In short, Trump doesn’t respond well to criticism, not many ego maniacs do, but can we really compare him to Hitler?
Jack White did in a recent Instagram post.
The ongoing beef between White and Trump started when the former White Stripes rocker called Trump a bit gaudy when it came to his home decor. Team Trump immediately snapped back by calling White redundant.
The social media spat continued yesterday when, in a lengthy Instagram post, White wrote, “I was raised to believe that we defeated fascism in World War II and that we would never allow it again in the world. I don’t always state publicly my political opinions, and like anyone, I don’t always know all of the facts, but when it comes to this man and this administration, I’m not going to be like one of the silent minority of 1930s Germany.
“This man is a danger to not just America but the entire world, and that’s not an exaggeration; he’s dismantling democracy and endangering the planet on a daily basis, and we all know it.”
White ended his rant with a famous quote from Theodore Roosevelt that reads, “To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”
There’s a lot to digest here, but for brevity’s sake, let’s cut to the heart of the matter. White has just compared Trump to one of the worst, if not the worst, dictators in history – Adolf Hitler.
It’s a bit of a low blow. Trump hasn’t started any wars or committed any genocidal acts, yet. Although he did tell President Zelenskyy off for not wearing a suit on television. However, if you had accused Hitler of being Hitler, or even questioned something as insignificant as the little man’s sartorial choices or home decor, you’d be thrown into a death camp faster than you can say, “So this is what a real fascist looks like!”
In other words, you can’t accuse a world leader of being like Hitler and get away with it without defeating your own argument. America is still a democracy, and we’re still free to criticise the guy at the helm.
Except, and it’s a big except. In his post, White compared the Trump administration to 1930s Germany, which was a little different from the full Nazi hell that the Third Reich would later become when the gloves came off and Hitler felt finally safe and powerful enough to go full tyrant.
Here’s another thing to munch on. In a Vanity Fair interview with Donald Trump’s late first wife, Ivana Trump, she alleges that her husband used to keep a book of Adolf Hitler’s speeches in his bedside cabinet. A curious thing for a world leader to have for a little bit of nighttime reading? Let’s hope Trump was reading it for historical purposes and didn’t regard it as a motivational self-help book!
