Who Will Lead Us to a Holocaust
Part 1
I made a post recently about hate rhetoric, how the use of such language led to the Holocaust, and what each 2024 presidential candidate said during their campaigns that resembled such discourse. I wrote the piece in response to a comment on an image I shared on Holocaust Remembrance Day. The commenter stated, and I’m paraphrasing, that they were glad Kamala Harris didn’t win the presidential election because they thought Harris's presidency would lead us in that direction. I was curious about how the person came to that conclusion. I asked the commenter if they’d explain, and while I waited for an explanation, I did a little research, which led me to write my post on hate rhetoric.
Since I made my post, I’ve received a reply from the commenter. The person’s answer was lengthy, which I appreciate. I’ll break my research and thoughts on the person’s reply into multiple parts.
This is Part 1.
The first thing the person listed was that they thought Kamala Harris would lead us to a Holocaust because all Harris did while campaigning was talk about how bad Trump was. The person said Harris called Trump Hitler and that “Trump supporters are [N]azis” instead of “bringing up how to LEGITIMATELY fix our economy.” I agree. I also felt Harris spent too much time bad-mouthing Trump instead of telling us about her, considering what little time she had to campaign. I know she ran for the presidency before and was our VP for four years, but I felt I knew very little about her and how she would be different from Trump and Biden, which I think both parties wanted.
Calling Trump Hitler is extreme. I’m not saying I also don’t see some similarities, but I’m an average person. I don’t hold any political sway over anyone. Sure, I share my opinions, and I might have changed someone’s mind about some things, but then I doubt it. When most people go as far as publicly sharing their beliefs, we tend to hold firmly to those views. On the other hand, I’ve always tried to see other people’s viewpoints, and I don’t comment or argue with them on their personal pages. I also try not to attack them when they comment on my posts.
But I digress, as that’s not the point of this piece.
Harris is a public figure. She was the VP of this country and did and probably still does hold public sway. Calling names and telling us how bad the other candidate is without giving much information on their own policies doesn’t look good on any candidate. So, the first thing I did was look into whether Harris called Trump Hitler.
According to NBS News this is what Harris said to Anderson Cooper about Trump:
“Do you think Donald Trump is a fascist?” host Anderson Cooper asked Harris.
“Yes, I do. Yes, I do,” she replied.
“Later, she used the word herself to refer to Trump for the first time in public, saying voters care about “not having a president of the United States who admires dictators and is a fascist.’”
“I believe that Donald Trump is dangerous,” she continued. “As the president of the United States, the commander in chief, he’s saying to his generals, in essence, why can’t you be more like Hitler’s generals? Come on!”
In the last paragraph, Harris refers to a four-star general named John Kelly, who told Atlantic’s editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg that Trump said, "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had." Kelly also told The New York Times that Trump said, “‘You know, Hitler did some good things, too.” Another “Retired Army Gen. Mark A. Milley, who served as Trump’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, […] that Trump was “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country.”
In another article I found in Newsweek, Harris said,
"It is clear from John Kelly's words that Donald Trump is someone who I quote 'certainly falls into the general definition of fascist.' Who in fact, vowed to be a dictator on day one, and vowed to use the military as his personal militia to carry out his personal and political vendettas.'"
In the past, I’ve shared proof where Trump said he would be a dictator on day one, and Kelly’s statements about Trump are found all over the internet, so I’m not going to dig into that and just go on with this piece. I didn’t find a direct quote of Harris calling Trump Hitler, just a Facsicst, which some could say is close enough. I’m not a fan of name-calling in politics. I think candidates should stick to talking about their platforms and nothing more. I think the other person’s actions and policies should speak for themselves. I think the candidates and news outlets should stop reporting their opinions and state facts. Since I feel that way, I don’t think she should have called him a fascist. I can also see where the commenter on my post sees it as hate speech, but is it hate speech that can lead to a Holocaust? I think it’s a stretch to say hating on a single person, no matter how powerful, can lead to a Holocaust. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a tiny step, and so many other things need to happen to get there. And as I said, the commenter had a long reply, so I’ll save my final judgment.
The second thing the commenter said Harris did was to call all of Trump’s supporters Nazis. If this is so, it’s definitely hate speech and has dangerous implications. Unfortunately for the commenter, I can’t find a quote from Harris saying this directly. However, I found this: Politico reported that “Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz said at an event on Monday in Henderson, Nevada, that ‘there’s a direct parallel to a big rally that happened in the mid-1930s’ in the arena. And former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton told CNN, Trump is ‘actually reenacting the Madison Square Garden rally in 1939.’” Politico also said that “Trump and his campaign came under fire for racist rhetoric and slurs made by speakers at the event, drawing comparisons from critics to a Nazi rally at an earlier iteration of the venue 85 years ago.”
I won’t get into what was said at the rally, but I agree making the comparison was dangerous. Walz, Harris, Biden, etc., can think it, but they must be careful what they say. Let the public make the comparison.
On another site, I found the following: “The only garbage I see floating out there is his supporters,” Biden said, pausing for a moment before continuing. “His, his demonization of Latinos is unconscionable and it’s un-American.”
From what I understand, Biden and his people tried to back-peddle and, in a way, apologize, but either way, he shouldn’t have said it.
Yes, comments like these could incite violence against Trump supporters, which is why I don’t think those running for the presidency or who are the President should make them. And whereas Harris didn’t say it, her party did. Now, none of them called Trump supporters Nazis, but the rally comparison came pretty close, so we could see why Trump’s people would feel like they were being called Nazis.
Now, to answer the question of whether comparing a Trump rally to a Nazi rally lead to a Holocaust. I don’t know. These two examples are more likely to lead to civil unrest. I can see it as hate speech, but it isn’t something in and of itself that could lead to a Holocaust. Harris disagreed with Trump and called him a fascist, but she also said, “I don’t believe people who disagree with me are the enemy. He [Trump] wants to put them in jail. I’ll give them a seat at the table.”
Based on the information for both of my posts, I don’t see how the commenter saw Harris as the worst of the two, but I’ve just started looking into the person’s examples, so maybe I’ll understand more as I go along.
Here are links to the sites I got my quotes from: