SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A demonstrator holds a placard showing a picture of Donald Trump modified to add a swastika and an Adolf Hitler-style mustache during a protest outside the U.S. Embassy in London on November 9, 2016.
(Photo: Ben Stansall/AFP via Getty Images)
Creator of Godwin's Law Says It's OK—and Necessary—to Compare Trump to Hitler
"Those of us who hope to preserve our democratic institutions need to underscore the resemblance before we enter the twilight of American democracy."
Dec 21, 2023
The creator of
Godwin's Law—an adage that says Adolf Hitler comparisons become increasingly likely as Internet arguments drag on—argued in a Washington Post op-ed Thursday that his rule in no way discredits efforts to draw parallels between the Nazi dictator and former President Donald Trump.
"Those of us who hope to preserve our democratic institutions need to underscore the resemblance before we enter the twilight of American democracy," wrote attorney and author Mike Godwin. "And that's why Godwin's Law isn't violated—or confirmed—by the Biden reelection campaign's criticism of Trump's increasingly unsubtle messaging. We had the luxury of deriving humor from Hitler and Nazi comparisons when doing so was almost always hyperbole. It's not a luxury we can afford anymore."
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign posted to social media a graphic likening Trump's recent rhetoric—including his
statement that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country"—to Hitler's and arguing that the similarities are "not a coincidence."
During a speech in Iowa earlier this week, Trump—the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination—doubled down on his "poisoning the blood of our country" remark and acknowledged that historians and others have compared his rhetoric to Hitler's.
"They don't like it when I said that," Trump told a crowd of his supporters. "And I never read 'Mein Kampf.' They said, 'Oh, Hitler said that.'"
Trump told Vanity Fair decades ago that his friend Marty Davis gave him a copy of "Mein Kampf." Davis had a slightly different recollection, saying he in fact gave Trump a book of Hitler's speeches.
"More and more of us can see in his cynical rhetoric precisely the kind of dictator he aims to be."
Last month, the former president said in a Veterans Day address in New Hampshire that if he's reelected, he will "root out" those he characterized as "radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country"—a threat that observers described as openly fascistic. Weeks later, Trump vowed to be a dictator only on "day one" if reelected, heightening concerns about his authoritarian ambitions.
Citing two unnamed sources who have spoken to Trump in recent days,
Rolling Stone reported Wednesday that the former president "has privately vowed to further amp up the volume on his extreme, anti-immigrant messaging" in response to the Hitler comparisons.
Godwin argued in his Post column Thursday that the former president's "express, self-conscious commitment to a franker form of hate-driven rhetoric probably counts as a special instance of the law: The longer a constitutional republic endures—with strong legal and constitutional limits on governmental power—the probability of a Hitler-like political actor pushing to diminish or erase those limits approaches 100%."
"Will Trump succeed in being crowned 'dictator for a day'? I hope not," Godwin added. "But I choose to take Trump's increasingly heedless transgressiveness—and, yes, I really do think he knows what he's doing—as a positive development in one sense: More and more of us can see in his cynical rhetoric precisely the kind of dictator he aims to be."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
The creator of
Godwin's Law—an adage that says Adolf Hitler comparisons become increasingly likely as Internet arguments drag on—argued in a Washington Post op-ed Thursday that his rule in no way discredits efforts to draw parallels between the Nazi dictator and former President Donald Trump.
"Those of us who hope to preserve our democratic institutions need to underscore the resemblance before we enter the twilight of American democracy," wrote attorney and author Mike Godwin. "And that's why Godwin's Law isn't violated—or confirmed—by the Biden reelection campaign's criticism of Trump's increasingly unsubtle messaging. We had the luxury of deriving humor from Hitler and Nazi comparisons when doing so was almost always hyperbole. It's not a luxury we can afford anymore."
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign posted to social media a graphic likening Trump's recent rhetoric—including his
statement that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country"—to Hitler's and arguing that the similarities are "not a coincidence."
During a speech in Iowa earlier this week, Trump—the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination—doubled down on his "poisoning the blood of our country" remark and acknowledged that historians and others have compared his rhetoric to Hitler's.
"They don't like it when I said that," Trump told a crowd of his supporters. "And I never read 'Mein Kampf.' They said, 'Oh, Hitler said that.'"
Trump told Vanity Fair decades ago that his friend Marty Davis gave him a copy of "Mein Kampf." Davis had a slightly different recollection, saying he in fact gave Trump a book of Hitler's speeches.
"More and more of us can see in his cynical rhetoric precisely the kind of dictator he aims to be."
Last month, the former president said in a Veterans Day address in New Hampshire that if he's reelected, he will "root out" those he characterized as "radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country"—a threat that observers described as openly fascistic. Weeks later, Trump vowed to be a dictator only on "day one" if reelected, heightening concerns about his authoritarian ambitions.
Citing two unnamed sources who have spoken to Trump in recent days,
Rolling Stone reported Wednesday that the former president "has privately vowed to further amp up the volume on his extreme, anti-immigrant messaging" in response to the Hitler comparisons.
Godwin argued in his Post column Thursday that the former president's "express, self-conscious commitment to a franker form of hate-driven rhetoric probably counts as a special instance of the law: The longer a constitutional republic endures—with strong legal and constitutional limits on governmental power—the probability of a Hitler-like political actor pushing to diminish or erase those limits approaches 100%."
"Will Trump succeed in being crowned 'dictator for a day'? I hope not," Godwin added. "But I choose to take Trump's increasingly heedless transgressiveness—and, yes, I really do think he knows what he's doing—as a positive development in one sense: More and more of us can see in his cynical rhetoric precisely the kind of dictator he aims to be."
From Your Site Articles
The creator of
Godwin's Law—an adage that says Adolf Hitler comparisons become increasingly likely as Internet arguments drag on—argued in a Washington Post op-ed Thursday that his rule in no way discredits efforts to draw parallels between the Nazi dictator and former President Donald Trump.
"Those of us who hope to preserve our democratic institutions need to underscore the resemblance before we enter the twilight of American democracy," wrote attorney and author Mike Godwin. "And that's why Godwin's Law isn't violated—or confirmed—by the Biden reelection campaign's criticism of Trump's increasingly unsubtle messaging. We had the luxury of deriving humor from Hitler and Nazi comparisons when doing so was almost always hyperbole. It's not a luxury we can afford anymore."
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden's 2024 reelection campaign posted to social media a graphic likening Trump's recent rhetoric—including his
statement that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country"—to Hitler's and arguing that the similarities are "not a coincidence."
During a speech in Iowa earlier this week, Trump—the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination—doubled down on his "poisoning the blood of our country" remark and acknowledged that historians and others have compared his rhetoric to Hitler's.
"They don't like it when I said that," Trump told a crowd of his supporters. "And I never read 'Mein Kampf.' They said, 'Oh, Hitler said that.'"
Trump told Vanity Fair decades ago that his friend Marty Davis gave him a copy of "Mein Kampf." Davis had a slightly different recollection, saying he in fact gave Trump a book of Hitler's speeches.
"More and more of us can see in his cynical rhetoric precisely the kind of dictator he aims to be."
Last month, the former president said in a Veterans Day address in New Hampshire that if he's reelected, he will "root out" those he characterized as "radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country"—a threat that observers described as openly fascistic. Weeks later, Trump vowed to be a dictator only on "day one" if reelected, heightening concerns about his authoritarian ambitions.
Citing two unnamed sources who have spoken to Trump in recent days,
Rolling Stone reported Wednesday that the former president "has privately vowed to further amp up the volume on his extreme, anti-immigrant messaging" in response to the Hitler comparisons.
Godwin argued in his Post column Thursday that the former president's "express, self-conscious commitment to a franker form of hate-driven rhetoric probably counts as a special instance of the law: The longer a constitutional republic endures—with strong legal and constitutional limits on governmental power—the probability of a Hitler-like political actor pushing to diminish or erase those limits approaches 100%."
"Will Trump succeed in being crowned 'dictator for a day'? I hope not," Godwin added. "But I choose to take Trump's increasingly heedless transgressiveness—and, yes, I really do think he knows what he's doing—as a positive development in one sense: More and more of us can see in his cynical rhetoric precisely the kind of dictator he aims to be."
From Your Site Articles
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.