I rarely refer to people I disagree with as Nazis or compare them to Adolf Hitler. Usually, those comparisons are hyperbolic and not all that analogous. Today an exception will be made: There are legitimate parallels to be drawn between Donald Trump and Hitler.
Trump has repeatedly cultivated the support of white supremacists. He re-tweets them with alarming frequency, including glaringly inaccurate crime statistics that cater to the worst prejudices of white people with a sense of victimization.
Much like Hitler, who played to nationalist sympathies promising to restore Germany to former glory, Trump is promising to "make America great again".
Trump is undoubtedly an authoritarian. He has openly advocated the commission of war crimes in debates, advocating for torture and the killing of terrorists' families. He has cheered on violence at his rallies and casually suggested that he wished he could "rough up" journalists. He has even quoted Mussolini.
For Hitler, the demonized outsiders were Jews, democratic socialists, homosexuals, communists, and the mentally retarded amongst others. For Trump, the "others" are Muslims and immigrants saying:
"When Mexico sends its people, they're not sending their best," he said. "They're sending people that have lots of problems...they're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists. And some, I assume, are good people."
Trump is often laughed at and not taken particularly seriously (including by myself). Here's the thing: Hitler wasn't taken very seriously either. From my Western Civilization textbook, "...To most, Hitler was simply a right-wing rabble-rouser whose views were not worth taking seriously (p924 Nobel et. al.)."
