Sometimes a review of a Hitler biography is just a review of a Hitler biography—and sometimes not.
On Tuesday, the New York Times book reviews covered a new volume on the rise of Hitler. Funny thing is, though the Times review mentions no one except historical figures, people have been reading more into the review.
Why would anyone draw connections to Trump from the review? Well, here are some highlights.
Hitler was often described as an egomaniac who “only loved himself” — a narcissist with a taste for self-dramatization and what Mr. Ullrich calls a “characteristic fondness for superlatives.” His manic speeches and penchant for taking all-or-nothing risks raised questions about his capacity for self-control, even his sanity. …
Hitler was known, among colleagues, for a “bottomless mendacity” that would later be magnified by a slick propaganda machine that used the latest technology (radio, gramophone records, film) to spread his message. A former finance minister wrote that Hitler “was so thoroughly untruthful that he could no longer recognize the difference between lies and truth” and editors of one edition of “Mein Kampf” described it as a “swamp of lies, distortions, innuendoes, half-truths and real facts.”
We’re talking about Hitler. So don’t go getting any wrong ideas. But hey, let’s read some more …
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The review from Michiko Kakutani looks at the new book, Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 by Volker Ullrich. The focus of the book is stripping away the myths around Hitler to see how a man who many of his fellow Germans regarded as a joke, and whose rise seemed improbable at every step, nevertheless captured a nation and threatened the world.
And the deeper you go into the review, the more familiar it sounds.
Hitler increasingly presented himself in messianic terms, promising “to lead Germany to a new era of national greatness,” though he was typically vague about his actual plans. He often harked back to a golden age for the country, Mr. Ullrich says, the better “to paint the present day in hues that were all the darker. Everywhere you looked now, there was only decline and decay.”
It’s hard to read any of that without thinking of Donald Trump’s “midnight in America” approach. America is a laughingstock. America has been betrayed. And only Donald Trump can fix it.
Hitler’s repertoire of topics, Mr. Ullrich notes, was limited, and reading his speeches in retrospect, “it seems amazing that he attracted larger and larger audiences” with “repeated mantralike phrases” consisting largely of “accusations, vows of revenge and promises for the future.”
Build that wall. Build that … Yeah. Like that.
It’s entirely possible that Kakutani intentionally tweaked her review to draw out parallels between Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump. But here’s the real question: Would it be possible at this point to fairly discuss Hitler and not put people in mind of Trump?
