The Atlantic had a bit of a fit Wednesday after a mock-up screenshot of their home page featured the headline, "Trump Is Literally Hitler." Even worse, Elon Musk retweeted it. The Atlantic wrote a short piece outing the headline as fake and directing readers to their real and since debunked piece, "Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had’."
Now, a day later, the Washington Post has an opinion piece entitled, "No, Trump is not literally Hitler. So what is he?" The thesis: "Trump's allies and supporters claim that Trump's opponents call him Hitler. Most criticism, though, draws comparisons to the German dictator — ones that can be hard to set aside."
This is progress: He's not literally Hitler, it's just that the comparisons to Hitler can be hard to set aside. Heck, The Guardian, The Daily Beast, The New Republic, The Independent, Politico, and HuffPost have all published pieces saying that Donald Trump's upcoming rally at Madison Square Garden "rally raises creepy echoes of Fritz Kuhn’s pro-Nazi rally in 1939" that was held in a different building also called Madison Square Garden.
The Washington Post admits:
No, Donald Trump is not Adolf Hitler. He has, happily, not engaged in either the systemized slaughter of a population or launched an effort to subjugate the world.
Since the attempt on Trump's life in July, he and his allies have blamed anti-Trump rhetoric for the threats he has faced.
He and his allies are correct. This is the Washington Post hedging its bets, as it did in the sub-head, "Trump's allies and supporters claim that Trump's opponents call him Hitler." No, they don't just claim his opponents call him Hitler. And yes, all of the Hitler comparisons have inspired assassination attempts. And the Washington Post isn't helping.
Oh no, Trump is still a lot like Hitler. He's just not literally Hitler.
That's just the hook to get you to read the piece.
Yes, Kamala Harris has been careful not to actually call Trump Hitler … she just held a brief press conference Wednesday to discuss how much Trump is like Hitler.