The point of Pitts’ column on Trump
A recent letter to the editor lamented the Leonard Pitts Jr. column in The Bee as comparing Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler. Unfortunately the writer of the letter missed the point of Mr. Pitts’ opinion. Mr. Pitts wrote “No, Trump is not Hitler. Hitler was a singular figure who committed a singular crime.”
Pitts continued “… the real problem is not him (Trump) and never was. Rather, the problem is that thing deep down in some of us that responds to him.”
I recently toured Nuremberg, Germany and took a World War II “history” tour. I find it pretty hard to understand just why almost all of the German and Austrian citizens could continue to believe Hitler even when their cities were being reduced to rubble. But I’m beginning to better understand their mindset when I watch our evening newscasts in the United States.
Trump’s blusters remind me of Hitler’s early speeches now retained in the “Nuremberg Document Center.” Trump does not bother me at all. But Americans who idolize Trump do. Watching the actions of Trump’s “faithful” followers appear like those 1930s images of the German and Austrian faithful who allowed Hitler into our world.
Jerry Garwick, Prather
This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 5:50 AM with the headline "The point of Pitts’ column on Trump."