this post was submitted on 20 Dec 2023
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Donald Trump has now denied ever having read Adolf Hitler’s 1925 memoir-manifesto Mein Kampf as he faces a firestorm over his recent run of anti-immigrant comments, which have been likened to the Nazi leader’s infamous “blood and soil” rhetoric.

The former president returned to the campaign trail in Waterloo, Iowa, on Tuesday evening where he doubled down on his earlier inflammatory remarks.

“It’s crazy, what’s going on. They’re ruining our country. And it’s true. They are destroying the blood of our country. That’s what they’re doing. They are destroying our country,” he said.

“They don’t like it when I said that,” he added, before denying browsing Hitler’s book.

“And I never read Mein Kampf. They said, ‘Oh, Hitler said that’. In a much different way,” he said.

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[–] Heresy_generator@kbin.social 76 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

Because it was actually a book of Hitler's speeches that he loved to read.

Ivana Trump told her lawyer Michael Kennedy that from time to time her husband reads a book of Hitler's collected speeches, My New Order, which he keeps in a cabinet by his bed

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 32 points 8 months ago

Additionally, Trump wanted US military generals to emulate generals of the third Reich and treat him like he was Hitler:

It turned out that the generals had rules, standards, and expertise, not blind loyalty. The President’s loud complaint to John Kelly one day was typical: “You fucking generals, why can’t you be like the German generals?”
“Which generals?” Kelly asked.
“The German generals in World War II,” Trump responded.
“You do know that they tried to kill Hitler three times and almost pulled it off?” Kelly said.
But, of course, Trump did not know that. “No, no, no, they were totally loyal to him,” the President replied. In his version of history, the generals of the Third Reich had been completely subservient to Hitler; this was the model he wanted for his military. Kelly told Trump that there were no such American generals, but the President was determined to test the proposition.
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/08/15/inside-the-war-between-trump-and-his-generals

Then there's this:

Donald Trump appears to take aspects of his German background seriously. John Walter works for the Trump Organization, and when he visits Donald in his office, Ivana told a friend, he clicks his heels and says, “Heil Hitler,” possibly as a family joke.

Trump seems to aspire to be Hitler-like, and he even tried to take supreme dictatorial power through populism, lies and propaganda like Hitler did.

[–] st3ph3n@kbin.social 14 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I am more shocked by the fact that that motherfucker reads books at all.

[–] DarkGamer@kbin.social 11 points 8 months ago

The fact that he reads so little yet keeps this book close to his bed is telling.

[–] Maultasche@lemmy.world 27 points 8 months ago (1 children)
[–] slowwooderrunsdeep@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

off topic but that's probably the best line in all 8 movies

[–] Maultasche@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

Didn't Tom Felton improvisiert it, because he forgot his lines?

[–] zeppo@lemmy.world 27 points 8 months ago (2 children)

“They don’t like it when I said that” is one of an entire genre of Trump “they” statements. Goes along with “they like to use that word” and other claims about “they”.

[–] JustZ@lemmy.world 12 points 8 months ago (1 children)

"In America there is no us and them. There is only us." - Bill Clinton

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[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 25 points 8 months ago

Trump is a bad person and so is everyone who supports him.

If you ever wondered what you would do if you found yourself in Germany in the 1930s, now you know.

[–] aseriesoftubes@lemmy.world 23 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (2 children)

“And I never read Mein Kampf. They said, ‘Oh, Hitler said that’. In a much different way,” he said.

Note how he never says that what Hitler said or did was bad, but rather that he said what Hitler said in a different way.

I long for the days when something like this would be absolutely, unequivocally disqualifying.

[–] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 18 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like he's thinks the problem is plagiarism rather than similarity of content.

[–] Kase@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Exactly. "But but I changed the words around!!"

[–] mineralfellow@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

He is actually correct. Hitler said it in German.

[–] unreasonabro@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

People just refuse to get it. Racist speech is animal-level shit which is always the same even across languages and cultures. You don't need to have read it before or even heard it before to reproduce it. If you find yourself calling someone dirty, calling them rats or rodents or vermin or pigs or whatever your local equivalent, or really just judging anyone based on your preferred stereotypes, you may be doing the thing you say you hate.

[–] harrywrecker@kbin.social 19 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I very much believe he hasn't read it. In fact I'd be surprised if anyone in his circle of cronies has read it. It's so badly written.

It's a stream of consciousness completely devoid of structure. Sentences drag out for five lines and paragraphs go on for more than a page. There is often a change of subject along the way, forcing you to go back and re-read the garbage you couldn't hold onto the first time around.

It took me four weeks to get halfway through and I'm quite an avid reader.

[–] PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.works 8 points 8 months ago

Came here to say exactly this. He’s never read that book and he doesn’t truly grasp the reason the book was written or the history behind it. He has no clue as to the context.

And it’s an awful book, like you said. Not just for what it advocates but it’s just so badly written. It’s fucking awful. You made it further than I did.

[–] recapitated@lemmy.world 15 points 8 months ago

You don't need to read that book to know this stuff. He's putting his ignorance of on full display. Ignorance of some of the most important AND MOST OBVIOUS and accessible historical periods ...

[–] june@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

I was talking to my dad once and he practically quoted something Michael Savage had said like 2 weeks before (it had come up on a polisci class, I don’t listen to that drivel) and when I told him as much, he said he doesn’t listen to him. Which I believe.

My point is, trump has definitely never read Mein Kampf, the man can’t read at all. But I’m confident that Mein Kampf has been parroted to him countless times.

[–] TheBlue22@lemmy.blahaj.zone 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I don't think dude read anything in his life lol

[–] Debeli_Perun@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

Maybe Art of the Deal, but only because somebody else wrote it.

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[–] kaffiene@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I believe him. I don't think he's ever read a book at all. Plenty of morons manage to be racist all by themselves.

[–] _dev_null@lemmy.zxcvn.xyz 4 points 8 months ago

I believe him, he's too much of a dumbass to remember anything he's read in a book.

But the people that are feeding him the garbage he spews on the other hand...

[–] Dr_Decoy@lemmy.world 11 points 8 months ago

He doesn’t read. The question we should be asking ourselves is who is telling him to say it, and what is their true agenda?

[–] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 10 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I don't think Trump reads many books overall. He probably just heard the quote somewhere and didn't bother to check it before using it as his own. I'm writing this off as an unsurprising symptom of his lack of intelligence.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@literature.cafe 5 points 8 months ago

Trump, rather famously, can only be confirmed to have owned one book, and it is Mein Kampf.

That said, I can indeed still believe he didn't finish it, even if he remembers a couple quotes.

[–] Adalast@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Honestly, for me, it is more bothersome and terrifying if he is coming to this rhetoric through a convergent mentality as opposed to parroting a past fascist dictator.

[–] NataliePortland@lemmy.ca 9 points 8 months ago

Trump, I don’t think anyone is accusing you of having read a book

[–] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Listening to the audiobook technically doesn’t count as reading

[–] magnor@lemmy.magnor.ovh 4 points 8 months ago

Narrated by Stephen Miller, and with live readings too!

[–] SeaJ@lemm.ee 7 points 8 months ago

His mother, wife, and ex-few are immigrants. Although, I guess in the case of his mother, she did play a party in destroying the country.

[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

On the one hand, Mein Kampf is not a comic book, so it might be a bit above Trumps reading capabilities. On the other hand, he has more than enough minions happy enough to read it to him, and explain all the three-syllables-or-more words to him in a pacient manner. I wonder how many Leni Riefenstahl movies he has watched, though, dreaming to be the star...

[–] ThePowerOfGeek@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

The guy can't even hold a Bible up the right way. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he doesn't read any book above a third grade level, and even then only if it features tons of ego-stroking, comically flattering images of himself.

[–] queermunist@lemmy.ml 6 points 8 months ago

>implying Trump has read even one book

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I believe him. I also think he binges those history channel shows about Hitler.

[–] andxz@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I'd wager that's where he got the sentence from, or something similar, because he's never read mein kampf. It's not an easy book to read, and he certainly isn't a reader by any means.

That said, someone could be spoonfeeding these little nuggets to the dumbass.

[–] dantheclamman@lemmy.world 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

But no comment on whether his dad read it to him when he was a kid

[–] medicsofanarchy@lemmy.world 3 points 8 months ago

All snuggled under the covers with just his orange forehead peeking out over his eyes so he could see the pictures, as he drifted off to sleep each night. Yeah, I could see that.

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[–] sentient_water@neurodifferent.me 4 points 8 months ago

@MicroWave He's been quoted as saying he wished his generals had been like Hitler's generals. Loyal & obviously Nazis.

[–] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago

Why would he? He probably gets his sick reference game from Miller and the rest of the gang

[–] AVincentInSpace@pawb.social 2 points 8 months ago

I had to read an excerpt from Mein Kampf for school (my only thought the entire time I was reading it was "good God, people were swayed by this?")

Maybe Trump didn't but the alternative is that he came up with those ideas independently which is Really Not Better

[–] kpw@kbin.social 1 points 8 months ago

He doesn't strike me as the reading type, but I'm pretty sure he listens to people who read it.

[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago
[–] phaedral@mastodon.social 1 points 8 months ago

@MicroWave Well, I guess that settles it. He'd never lie.

[–] nutsack@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago

me either to be honest

[–] nick@midwest.social 1 points 8 months ago

I’m fucking shocked he’s ever read a book at all.

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