The Netflix documentary series “How to Become a Tyrant” explores some of history’s biggest villains.
- Adolf Hitler.
- Saddam Hussein
- Joseph Stalin
- Idi Amin
- Muammar Gaddafi
Director Scott Derrickson thinks there’s another name that should grace that list.
President Donald Trump.
The director of “Doctor Strange,” “Sinister” and “The Black Phone” weighed in on the 2021 docuseries on X earlier today. He retweeted a post showing Trump describing China’s Xi Jinping as “brilliant,” a phrase taken out of context to suggest Trump wants to lead America in a similar fashion.
Derrickson didn’t stop there. He said Trump is following the dictators’ playbook “to the letter.”
If re-elected, Trump will follow in the footsteps of modern leaders like Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and China’s Xi Jinping, he wrote.
And then Derrickson had second thoughts. He deleted the post.
Perhaps he feared the blowback from MAGA Nation. Or, he realized this kind of unhinged rhetoric is suddenly frowned upon days after a failed assassination attempt on Trump.
Yet a short time later he shared a post with a strikingly similar message.
If anyone wants to see the Trump playbook, watch "How to become a Tyrant" on Netflix. It is so similar in every way to what has happened in this country, it is FRIGHTENING. I think it should be mandatory to watch it! The roadmap Trump is using is clear.
— Sharon Loeff (@sharon_loeff) January 27, 2023
President Trump had four full years to embrace his inner Hitler.
No “lawfare”-style attacks on his political opponents. No wide-scale efforts to silence dissent on social media.
And, most importantly, no new wars. If only more western leaders could say the same.
Derrickson is far from alone in drawing the Trump-Hitler comparison. The list of Hollywood artists who have done the same is considerable, including:
- James Gunn
- Sarah Silverman
- Louis CK
- Ellen Barkin
- Robert De Niro
- Michael Moore
- Pedro Pascal
- Kirk Douglas
- John Cleese
Derrickson previously slammed Trump fans as racist, despite the candidate’s ability to expand the GOP’s outreach to people of color.