Timothy Snyder is a Yale history professor and has written several books on the Holocaust. So you’d think maybe he’d know better than to casually toss around Hitler comparisons.
And you’d apparently be wrong.
In an opinion piece for the New York Times, Snyder describes how Hitler honed his propaganda skills and figured out how to use propaganda to control the narrative. Here’s how Snyder concludes his piece:
Hitler’s form of politics gained mass support when the Great Depression brought to Germany a new series of global shocks. One of the consequences of that economic crisis (as of the one of 2008) was the collapse of independent newspapers, an institution Hitler always denounced as a Jewish “enemy of the people.” As the voices of journalists were weakened, the propagandists delivered the coup de grâce. By then, Hitler and the Nazis had found the simple slogan they repeated again and again to discredit reporters: “Lügenpresse.” Today the extreme right in Germany has revived this term, which in English is “fake news.”
Naturally, that’s the bit the New York Times chose to highlight in their tweet:
In Opinion
Timothy Snyder writes: Hitler and the Nazis found a simple slogan they repeated again and again to discredit reporters: “Lügenpresse.” Today the extreme right in Germany has revived this term, which in English is “fake news.” https://t.co/FcJuBM9vW0
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 17, 2019
Welp, there it is. Snyder’s piece doesn’t mention Donald Trump even once, but it’s pretty obvious what he’s doing.
Sounds like Trump is using Hitler’s playbook
— Laura (@lauraksaz) October 17, 2019
Good for you, Laura. That’s exactly what you were supposed to take away from Snyder’s piece.
This one takes the prize, NYT. A very clever and devious stretch, indeed, in an attempt to link Trump to the Nazis.
— AudzKnysz (@AudreyP70854910) October 17, 2019
Look: We get that Trump says “fake news” a lot. But using that to draw a line to Adolf Hitler is intellectually lazy — and intellectually dishonest.
There is a basis in fact for the term fake news. https://t.co/1RgWJNjf5y
— Heather Champion (@winningatmylife) October 17, 2019
— Heather Champion (@winningatmylife) October 17, 2019
But Hitler!
— ABQ White Walker ?️ (@WalkerABQ) October 17, 2019
Hitler and the Nazis breathed air. Today the Left in America is obsessed with air and the amount of CO2 in it. https://t.co/Xp5nLeSQie
— Eric Spencer (@JustEric) October 17, 2019
They are actually going with "You know who ELSE criticized the media????"
Hitler also supported motorways. And was against smoking.
— ThePrussian (@ThePrussian1) October 17, 2019
“You know who else was a dog person?”
Every time I see something from Snyder, it’s more unhinged than the last. The man has no shame.— Dimitri Kolokotronis (@JimmyLevendia) October 17, 2019
Ah, OK. So this is typical of Timothy Snyder, then. Good to know.
It’s most definitely typical of the New York Times.
https://t.co/TOwlZPshNe pic.twitter.com/uOnEroy88U
— Mo Mo (@molratty) October 17, 2019
Googling is hard https://t.co/fXy6KlXNPr pic.twitter.com/IO9nwPjyP4
— Mo Mo (@molratty) October 17, 2019
Almost as hard as self-awareness!
How the New York Times helped him do it. pic.twitter.com/Z4e36W4Uq7
— Atlas (@Hulett_1212) October 17, 2019
Keep up the great work, New York Times.
— EMM (@mm77atl) October 17, 2019
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