And yet Obama fell into a familiar trap, implying that Trump is a freak case, a one-off, an aberration. He did not dwell on the forces of white identity politics, social media flame-throwing and politics-as-entertainment that empowered Trump – the notion that he was a symptom, not a cause. There has been little of that this week except from the New York governor, Andrew Cuomo, who observed:“Donald Trump didn’t create the initial division. The division created Trump. He only made it worse.”
…
The Democratic congressman Jim Clyburn, whose endorsement of Biden was critical to his nomination, told the Axios website in March: “I used to wonder how could the people of Germany allow Hitler to exist. But with each passing day, I’m beginning to understand how. And that’s why I’m trying to sound the alarm.”
Over and over and over again, for years now, alternating with Putin as Stalin. It’s also possible to enjoy both tropes simultaneously: Trump is Hitler, and Trump is Putin/Stalin’s puppet, which seems even more convoluted than the American norm.
