Donald Trump, Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ - an unlikely trio, but with one thing in common
By John Welford
@indexer (4852)
Leicester, England
November 11, 2018 5:15am CST
There is one thing that these three have/had in common that explains why they gained enormous popularity.
This is that they offered hope to people, and huge numbers of people believed them.
They are/were all Messiahs in their own way - although that may be an odd word to use in the case of Donald Trump.
But just look at the evidence. Trump is an expert at getting crowds of people to follow his thinking and place their trust in him. What he says is different from what others say - he make great play from not being a politician who spouts the party line.
He inspires hope by telling people that he has different answers to their problems from what they are told by politicians, and it does not matter how bizarre those answers might be as long as he can get them to believe that what he says is true.
Once that belief is in place, he can say almost anything he likes - his followers will still follow because that they have stopped thinking through what the promises actually mean. Their faith in him will carry the day.
And that is precisely what both Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ did, although the latter had a lot of help from the Gospel writers.
Adolf Hitler's message of hope for a defeated nation (after World War One) got a huge popular response that carried him to power. This was because he not only offered something different, but his oratory was captivating and people believed what he said because they wanted to. Once that trust was won there was no going back - he could then do whatever he wanted, in the full knowledge that the people would support him.
(Although it has also to be remembred that brute force was another vital factor in his hold on power).
As for Jesus - another message of hope, although of a different kind. The religion founded in his name has always had that message, and it has also had devoted followers who have - through devotion to the words of the Bible - reached the stage of believing everything that they are told from the pulpit or by tele-evangelists.
The pattern can be seen in many other examples - both political and religious - but it always had the same features - get a big enough following for your "hope" message and you can do just about anything!
Donald Trump is just the latest in a long line of hope merchants.
6 people like this
4 responses
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
11 Nov 18
Christ offered something more than Earthly promises, I think that sets him apart from the other two.
3 people like this
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
11 Nov 18
That doesn't affect the logic of the point I am making. All religions offer hope, and those people who believe in the promises that are made - whatever their form - run the risk of being seduced into believing everything that the founder of that religion (and his advocates) may then say.
1 person likes this
@louievill (28851)
• Philippines
12 Nov 18
@indexer on the contrary I think what I said affects the logic, so lets put it this way. People who were promised expect fulfillment as natural as the case maybe. Example one, Hitler, his promised was or never would be fulfilled, it's simply kaput! It resulted in millions of deaths plus a divided Nation. Case 2 is Trump, okay he may have fulfilled some, missed some, he still has time to fulfill all or not plus an a possibility of extending his term, both one and 2 are material promises, duped or not the end result is fulfillment so a fulfilled promise means you were not duped at all, hope you agree with my point.
Now let's go to the 3rd, Christ, being not Earthly promises does affect the logic, why? Since duped is none fulfillment of a promise but there is no way of telling till we get there, so being spiritual in nature breaks the logic cause you will never know if you were duped unless you get there which I hope not yet for both of us
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
12 Nov 18
@louievill Sorry - I think you have missed the point entirely. I am talking about hope - not about fulfilment of hope. The people who voted for Hitler believed his promise of something better than what they had at the time. The same applies to people who sign up to a religion - the hope is for rewards in Heaven.
It does not matter - for the point of my argument - whether those hopes are realized or not, or even if they are realisable. What I am saying is that people who buy into the promise are often then open to everything else that they are told by the leader/guru/Messiah. Because they have taken the initial promise on board, and believe it implicitly, all future promises will be accepted uncritically.
That is how fanatics are created. Hitler said he would cure the economic ills of Germany. People believed him. He then said that the Jews were the cause of the economic ills, so they had to be eliminated. People still believed him.
Religious fanatics do the same - once the follower accepts the authority of the leader - because of their message of hope - they are open to being led astray should that leader turn out to want his followers to slaughter non-followers - for example.
Note that Hitler`s followers were taken in by the "kill the Jews" message long before Germany's economic ills were solved.
1 person likes this
@NormanDarlo (1071)
• Ireland
11 Nov 18
That's an interesting analysis. Somewhat provocative too, choosing those three figures. There were, as you yourself said, a goodly number of other high-profile historical figures you could have chosen, but that'll hopefully help get a decent volume of response. Unsure about your use of 'messiah' - its meaning is 'anointed'; who is supposed to have anointed either Trump or Hitler?
2 people like this
@indexer (4852)
• Leicester, England
11 Nov 18
Themselves maybe? Certainly Hitler saw himself as the "special one" who could save the German people and usher in the "1000 year Reich". But the real point of my comparison was that all three needed to win trust, and they did this by offering hope.
1 person likes this
@crossbones27 (49723)
• Mojave, California
11 Nov 18
Here is the kicker for me. I get why it works but not how it still works. In this time when all of our leaders just preach education. Oh they love to say its not the college educated ones that did not vote for him and is true and yes most white. But they said the majority also earned over a 100,000 a year. I am not sure if that is combined income wife and husband. Probably is but we have been told a lie by our side and it bit us in the butt. Is my conclusion. Even if they go to college like Trump did and not saying he became smarter but they just become smarter psychopaths corrupting people who cannot think for themselves. Still hate punk rock. 
@crossbones27 (49723)
• Mojave, California
11 Nov 18
@indexer Did you hear Charlottesville or he is now a nationalist. Psychopath indeed but saw programs he could control him self just enough to get where is. Why? All about that money and only hurt a few souls he hurt so sociopath never called him out. Was good for business and we hate poor people anyway. Why not let it slide. They call us out. Being the people in charge at the time.
@xander6464 (44420)
• Wapello, Iowa
16 Nov 18
You're right about everything. I just hope that Trump doesn't get 11 years like Hitler did. I think he's capable of causing just as much destruction.
