Jensen and Hitler: Why Nazi analogies misfire

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In my many years as a journalistic blowhard, I have often become annoyed with some politician, or activist, or fellow windbag whose latest pronouncement seemed to me to betray a latent totalitarian spirit. And I've often momentarily been tempted to liken such amateur despots to Adolf Hitler.

But I've generally resisted that temptation (I hope I always have, but it's been a long career). Upon further reflection the comparison has always seemed unfair — and not least to Hitler.

Adolf Hitler was a complicated and incalculably consequential person. He was a man of conviction, hardworking and tough-minded, a patriot and a riveting public speaker. He believed in a cause larger than himself and got things done. He was shy around women, loved dogs and alpine landscapes, hated tobacco. He was all gangbusters for infrastructure spending. He often ignored the advice of subordinates and the complaints of critics. He was methodical, relentless, audacious in pursuit of his goals, which he stated plainly and followed through on. People underestimated him for a long time.

In short, Hitler's story is multifaceted enough that almost anyone or any series of actions could in theory inspire a comparison to some secondary characteristic of the Nazis' rise and fall, without the comparison having anything to do with the fact that above all Hitler and his movement were utterly and unspeakably evil.

But in fact no one ever makes that kind of innocent comparison.

No one has ever watched a fellow nuzzling a German shepherd and exclaimed: "Why, you remind me of Adolf Hitler the way you dote on that animal."

No one has ever congratulated a colleague for her forceful remarks at the morning meeting by effusing: "Gee, Marge, Hitler couldn't have said it any better!"

No. Whenever or wherever someone compares another person or their actions and ideas to Hitler, or the Nazis, or "Germany in the 1930s," their purpose is to imply only one thing — that their target is somehow akin to as brutal and murderous a tyranny as human beings have ever inflicted on one another.

What calls all this to mind is of course GOP gubernatorial candidate Scott Jensen's struggles over having suggested that Gov. Tim Walz's COVID-19 restrictions reminded him of "the little things [that] grew into something bigger" in Germany in the 1930s.

In one of several attempts to clarify and defend his meaning, Jensen explained that he was merely comparing Walz's actions to Hitler's in the sense that both involved "incremental changes designed by government to effect sweeping societal changes."

One could have cited any number of all-American examples of "incremental changes" used "to effect sweeping societal changes" — Roosevelt's New Deal in the 1930s, Lyndon Johnson's Great Society in the 1960s, or post-Civil War Reconstruction in the 19th century. But for some reason Jensen's thoughts went straight to the Nazis.

"When ... I saw the government policies intruding on American freedoms incrementally, one piece at a time, and compare that to what happened in the 1930s," he went on, "I think it's a legitimate comparison."

"You don't get to be my thought police person," he added, apparently addressing all Minnesotans.

It's certainly true that in this country no one gets to silence Jensen on this or any other subject. And he can rest easy. One suspects the very last thing his political opponents actually desire is for Jensen to shut up about Hitler.

Meanwhile, if we really were living in Germany in the 1930s, the Walz regime's outspoken critics would have been hanged with piano wire months ago.

Just to correct the historical record, Hitler wasn't actually all that subtle or "incremental" in his intrusions on freedom. He staged a deadly serious, abortive coup as early as 1923, and while in prison authored "Mein Kampf." According to a timeline on the website of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, within a month of Hitler's taking office as chancellor in January 1933, the suspicious Reichstag fire inspired suspension of the German Constitution. By March the first concentration camp opened and in April Jews and political foes were banned from the civil service and public schools. Book burnings began in June, forced sterilization of "defectives" in July and by October Jews were banished from journalism.

Eighteen months after taking office Hitler ordered the murders of dozens of highly placed critics and doubters including the chief of his own paramilitary force and his predecessor as chancellor in the so-called "night of the long knives." In August 1934, Hitler abolished the office of president and made himself absolute Fuhrer.

Freedom is perishing a bit more slowly in Minnesota and America.

But enough of this silliness. Freedom needs defenders today, to combat a suffocating dogmatism on the left and contempt for democratic norms on the right. But hysterical hyperbole is part of what ails us. Mask mandates aren't Kristallnacht any more than tightening voting rules is the greatest threat to American democracy "since the Civil War," as President Joe Biden has claimed.

All is not lost for Jensen. Back in 2007 another rising Minnesota pol stepped in a similar pile of rubbish, likening President George W. Bush's expansion of presidential powers after 9/11 to Hitler's usurpations following the Reichstag fire. Criticized, he said he only meant to compare shocking events being used to justify new powers.

As with Jensen, this politician had ignored various American precedents such as FDR's claim to emergency powers after Pearl Harbor, or Lincoln's after Fort Sumter. For some reason Bush's actions reminded him only of Hitler.

But in time the politician ate some crow, admitting that Hitlerism was "unique" and not really a suitable comparison. He may have learned something about rhetorical restraint from the incident. Anyway, he's gone on to considerable success.

It was Minnesota's DFL Attorney General (freshman member of Congress at the time) Keith Ellison.