Adolf Hitler talks about Donald J. Trump

Why I chose to come back at this time is simple: I’ve come back before; I will come back again. I like visiting Earth whenever when interesting leaders are present. Having myself been a leader, and a historic one at that, I have some personal interest in leadership, particularly in strong men, who do not shy away from authoritarian practices when they are needed, as they always are in times of threat such as America is now facing. Nations do not become great, and remain great, by accident. It takes a leader, with the necessary vision, historical understanding and powers of persuasion, to lift a nation above its ordinary inertia to world power. I was that person for Germany, in my time, and would have succeeded, had I not been betrayed on so many fronts, by so many weaklings whom I trusted. But that is a tale for another day.

The man who has most impressed me—until now–since my departure from Earth, in 1945, was Pol Pot. Now there was a strong dictator! He knew exactly what he wanted and did not allow weaklings, doubters or naysayers to influence him. He knew how to deal with them. Summarily! Pol Pot was a leader in my mold—in fact, he said many times that he admired me more than any other world leader in history. That is not faint praise! I liked also Stalin and Idi Amin, but not as much as Pol Pot. Now, some have asked me if I admired North Korea’s Kim family. The answer—I must be honest—is, No. They were strong, and did not hesitate to be ruthless, but their strategy was too unremitting, too inflexible. A leader must be willing to turn instantly from one direction to another, if such a change is called for. I did that when I made my pact with the Soviet Union, in 1939, and then again, two years later, when I invaded Russia. The Kims have proven unable to be creatively resilient, particularly this current one, Jong Un. Perhaps he will change.

So why have I returned now? Ach, it is a good question! I think you know the answer. There is a world leader today who bears my closest and most careful scrutiny. He might almost have read my various books and speeches, so closely does he hew to my methods. His use of propaganda is most skillful; his lies masterful in their ability to thwart and confuse his opponents; the way he plays to his followers’ resentments is exactly the way I played to mine. And his hatreds! Ach, positively Hitlerian. His unpredictability leaves his enemies off balance. It reminds me of how I kept all Europe, indeed the whole world, guessing as to my next move, in the 1930s. First, rearming; then, the Rhineland; then Austria; then the Sudetenland and all of Czechoslovakia; finally, the Corridor, Danzig and Poland. But nobody ever knew if, where or when I would move. If you can keep your opponent guessing, he will be that much more unguarded when the blow lands.

That is what I like about this President Trump. It is true that, personally, he is repugnant to me, a vulgar, greedy billionaire, with a nepotistic family, the kind of bloodsucker I used in my rise to power and then discarded. But one need not like a man in order to admire his achievements, and I respect Trump. So ambitious! Like me, he dreams of unlimited power and authority. Like me, he makes no secret of his goals. I spelled them out for all to see in Mein Kampf. Trump did so, obliquely, in The Art of the Deal. He is perhaps not quite so audacious as I was; I was in a far more advantageous position because, in Germany in 1933, when I seized power, there were virtually no checks and balances with which to stop me. Trump faces a determined internal opposition, these damned Democrats, most of whom are Jews–the same cabal that was behind Roosevelt. But I believe that Trump has plans for dealing with them. I cannot read minds—that is not a talent of the dead. But I can read body language, and I see that this man—so belligerent, so allergic to normal ethics, so uncaring of what anyone thinks about him—has the stuff to dispatch his enemies. He merely awaits the opportune time. A great leader possesses, above all, patience.

And so I have returned. I cannot know for sure if Trump is aware that I hover around him, whispering in his inner ear. I like to think I have influenced some of his decisions: the Arpaio pardon, for instance, I was heavily in favor of. And—let me be entirely truthful—I think I put the Obama birther idea into his head. Trump’s scapegoating of colored people is exactly equivalent to my scapegoating of the Jews. I have other ideas for Trump, which I will not spell out publicly. But next time you see him on T.V., stirring up resentment and fear amongst his base, you might notice a slight shadow behind him, a crackling of the air; and you would not be mistaken if you said to yourself, “That is Hitler, murmuring to Donald Trump’s subconscious.”