Chapter 54: Working Towards The Führer
The Logic of Dictatorship
Regular readers of the chapters in this Substack may recall that I have written about Hitler on numerous occasions.
Twice I have observed that Trump is not Hitler.
However, as Trump’s disastrous second term unfolds, it is becoming apparent that these two men have a lot in common. These commonalities include, at the least: Inability to deal with the truth; demonization of a group within society; belief in conspiracy; the desire to exercise power over all the nation’s institutions; and the use of language. Most broadly, Hitler and Trump have the same aim: The destruction of democracy and the substitution of their personal dictatorships.
Truth was not the friend of Hitler, and it is not the friend of Trump. Here is an example from Hitler, following which will be offered the most recent of the many examples from Trump.
Early in 1936, the mood of the German people was turning sour. The prime causes were:
Food Shortages
Rising Food Prices
Increasing Unemployment
The evidence of dissatisfaction was being widely reported.
“The food shortages . . . highlighted the enormous gulf between the poverty of the masses and the ostentatious wealth and blatant corruption of [Nazi] party bosses.” The Berlin police reported that “Confidence of the population in the person of the Führer is undergoing a crisis.” One of Hitler’s aides brought these reports to his attention.1
In response, Hitler raged: “The mood of the people is not bad, but good. I know that better. It’s made bad through such reports. I forbid such things in the future.”2 Hitler’s response to domestic dissatisfaction was often to divert attention to foreign policy. On March 7, 1936, he remilitarized the Rhineland, violating the Treaty of Versailles to which Germany was a signatory. He risked war; but Britain and France accepted his action, which was greeted with delirious approval in Germany.
Now let’s look at Trump.
On August 1, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported weak job numbers. Trump’s response was to fire the messenger.
“I was just informed that our Country’s ‘Jobs Numbers’ are being produced by a Biden Appointee, Dr. Erika McEntarfer, the Commissioner of Labor Statistics, who faked the Jobs Numbers before the Election to try and boost Kamala’s [Harris’] chances of Victory. We need accurate Jobs Numbers. I have directed my Team to fire this Biden Political Appointee, IMMEDIATELY. She will be replaced with someone much more competent and qualified.”3 As he elaborated in his infantile way, “I believe the numbers were phony, just like they were before the election. And there were other times. So you know what I did? I fired her, and you know what I did? The right thing.”4
Like Hitler, Trump is trying to divert attention from the shaky economy and the scandal about Epstein (which is sticking to him at least for the time being) by changing the subject to foreign affairs. Quoting him: "Based on the highly provocative statements of the Former President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev . . . I have ordered two Nuclear Submarines to be positioned in the appropriate regions, just in case these foolish and inflammatory statements are more than just that.”5 He posted these words on social media, typical of him and unthinkable of anybody else. Needless to say – or at least it would have been needless to say before Trump – flippancy about nuclear weapons, particularly just prior to the anniversary of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – is the height of irresponsibility.
In order to make wise decisions, nothing is more important for the ruler of a nation than a firm grasp of reality. As Hitler’s career progressed, he became more and more detached from what was really going on. He intended, as his most important recent biographer, Sir Ian Kershaw, has written, to “make Germany great again”;6 but his remarkable early successes led to increasingly greater detachment from reality. And as the incident recounted above suggests, only a very brave or fool-hearty man would be willing to tell him the truth about something that did not conform to his preconceptions.
Speaking to a huge audience, Hitler declared that “I go with a certainty of a sleepwalker along the path laid out for me by Providence.”7 This is a staggeringly revealing observation. The “certainty of a sleepwalker”! Does this sound like someone who stays up late and gets up early to read reports and assess difficult situations? Would you vote for a man who said such a thing for President of the United States? Indeed, for any public office? Does this sound like a man in touch with reality?
An important idea in Kershaw’s biography is what he labels “Working Towards The Führer”; and indeed, this is the title of the last chapter of the first volume.8 What exactly does this phrase mean? Not easily defined. But here is Kershaw: “Hitler’s personalized form of rule invited radical initiatives from below and offered such initiatives backing, so long as they were in line with his broadly defined goals. This promoted ferocious competition at all levels of the regime, among competing agencies, and among individuals within those agencies. In the Darwinist jungle of the Third Reich, the way to power and advancement was through anticipating the Führer‘s will, and, without waiting for directives, taking initiatives to promote what were presumed to be Hitler’s aims and wishes.” This happened, “without the dictator necessarily having to dictate.”9
What Kershaw does not quite say but what seems obvious is that “Working Towards The Führer” invites an environment in which Hitler’s people are more royalist than the king. The pressure is toward a regime which becomes ever more radical.
And here we have another similarity to Trump. Think of the people with whom he has surrounded himself. Bondi, Patel, Bongino, Hegseth, Zeldin, McMahon,10 and so on. Are these people in touch with reality? And if so, are any of them capable of having a hard conversation with a man who is as frightening as Donald Trump? These questions answer themselves. They are all busily “Working Towards The Donald” while he is on the golf course.
We know what the result was of Hitler’s grotesque dictatorship. He “left Germany and Europe not just . . . physically in ruins but morally shattered.”11 Again: “morally shattered.” Millions upon millions of people lost their lives. And untold millions lost their self-respect. In the words of the first great biography of Hitler written by Alan Bullock and originally published in 1952, “[T]he old Europe of the years between 1789, the year of the French Revolution, and 1939, the year of Hitler's war has gone forever – and the last figure in its history is that of Adolf Hitler, the architect of its ruin.
‘Si monumentum requiris, circumspice’* – ‘If you seek his monument, look around.’12
The need somehow to curtail Trump’s dictatorial power could not be greater because the stakes could not be higher.
There are far more similarities between these two men than can be touched upon in this brief chapter. That said, the similarity between the path to power of Hitler and Trump is so striking that it deserves our attention. How did the political guardrails fail so completely to keep such men out of the highest office? That will be the subject of the next chapter.
* These words are on the tombstone of Sir Christopher Wren in Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London, of which he was the architect.
Ian Kershaw, Hitler: 1889 – 1936 Hubris (New York: Norton, 1998) p. 577.
Kershaw, Hubris, p. 577.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/01/trump-erika-mcentarfer-jobs-report-fired.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/08/02/us/politics/trump-russia-jobs.html
https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-orders-nuclear-submarines-moved-after-russian-provocative-statements-2025-08-02/
Kershaw, Hubris, p. 103.
Kershaw, Hubris, p. 591.
Kershaw, Hubris, pp. 528 – 591.
Kershaw, Hubris, pp. 529 – 530.
Pam Bondi is attorney general, Kash Patel is director of the FBI, Dan Bongino is deputy director of the FBI, Pete Hegseth is secretary of defense, Lee Zeldin is administrator of the EPA, Linda McMahon is secretary of education.
Kershaw, Hubris, loc. 253.
Alan Bullock, Hitler (New York: Bantam, 1962) p. 726.
Well said. Perhaps His Orangeness's supporters refuse to see him for who he is because a vote is almost like an extension of oneself, so they see defending him is akin to defending themselves. It's hard for me to see this as even a political issue, although it's become that. No one should be acting like a dictator in the US, nor should they be granted that type of power or immunity, irrespective of political party. IMHO.