Putin is Hitler. Trump is Hitler. Trump even said to his chief of staff that Hitler “did a lot of good things.” (Nothing is coming to mind). But we can see how Trump could easily slip into Hitlers boots. America has a friendly fascism, a good-ol’-boy, apple pie Nazi-ness. Germans didn’t think they were being immoral, they were just ‘cleaning-up’ Germany. It is amazing what we can convince ourselves of doing in the name of righteousness.

We have Hitler to thank for giving us such a good example of how vile a human being can be. A negative teacher, he showed us how low we can go. He, of course, was a product of his society; a rigid, authoritarian, culture – Germany was not kid friendly. Hitler was beaten continuously by his stepfather, ridiculed by his peers, and failed as an artist. This is not a plea for compassion for Hitler but an understanding of what creates Hitlers.

It is interesting how humanity now uses Hitler to motivate wars. Putin told the Russian people that they needed to invade Ukraine to save them from the Nazi Western Europe while we see Putin as Hitler. Demonizing the other side is prevalent even in our news. As soon as we see someone painted as Hitler it is a red flag to look closer; what is really happening and what is the motivation?

Putin is trying to expand the Russian Empire and, like Hitler, wants to make his country great again. (Hum, I’ve heard that one before.)  This Empire building is so tedious, especially in today’s world where the Earth seems small and fragile, as well as all our economies being linked.  You want to f*ck everything up, start building an Empire.

It seems Putin has not been paying attention to how America underhandedly controls other countries. America doesn’t need to own countries, we just send an economic hitman and put in our chosen leader, then make them in debt to us. Putin is so old-school. Russia is going to destroy the infrastructure of Ukraine, then must rebuild it and maintain it with pissed-off citizenship. It is costly and doomed to fail.

He should do what America does, we go in with military actions, kill all the leaders, promise to help, take all the resources, then leave the mess behind. (Goodbye Afghanistan!) America, the friendly invader who is there to help restore democracy. Hitler is too easy to pin a tag on. Perhaps we need a new model of evil, someone more slimy, more conniving, more insidious, and yet still as heartless – maybe Allen Greenspan, Bush Senior, Mitch McConnel, Newt Gingrich…. and on and on. But they just don’t have the funny mustache and distinct hand gestures, so they lurk in the shadows.