A historically Jewish newspaper compared President Donald Trump's tactics to a scheme used by Germany's Adolf Hitler before World War II.
In an op-ed for Forward this week, author Terrence Petty likened Trump's demonization of his self-declared enemies to Hitler's attempt to blame Jewish people for Germany's loss in World War I. The tactic was known as the Dolchstosslegende, or stabbed-in-the-back legend.
"Trump has created an American version of Adolf Hitler's 'Dolchstosslegende,' also known as the 'stabbed-in-the-back' lie," the article in Forward said.
Dolchstosslegende alleged that Germany did not lose the First World War, but instead was betrayed by Jews.
"Donald Trump has created an American version of the Dolchstosslegende, propagating a myth that the nation is being led to ruination by Joe Biden and the Democrats, prosecutors who go after Trump, judges who rule against him, non-MAGA news media, practitioners of 'wokeism,' and elite universities, among others," Petty wrote.
"All of this is utter nonsense, of course, but this American stabbed-in-the-back lie is at the core of Trump's assaults on democracy."
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The author compared Hitler's first speech as chancellor on Feb. 10, 1933, to Trump's second inaugural address, which he insisted "reads like a stabbed-in-the-back manifesto."
"For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair," Trump said during the speech in January.
Looking forward, Petty wondered if the U.S. was going through the early stages of authoritarianism.
"There are some signs of hope," he noted. "Some law firms and universities are fighting back against Trump's efforts to coerce them into bending to his will. Citizens are mobilizing, legions of them taking to the streets in protest of Trump's power grabs. Courts have been ruling against his attempts to subvert the law. But none of this seems to faze him. And as appeals play out in rulings against him, he keeps using his authoritarian jackhammer against the foundations of American democracy."