Is New York Times Critic Comparing Trump to Hitler?

Image by Getty Images, gettyimages

By Forward Staff September 28, 2016

Sometimes, when New York Times critic Michiko Kakutani is channeling the voice of Holden Caulfield or over-using the word limn, she can be a tad grating.

Other times, though, she still has the capacity to knock one out of the park.

That’s the case today with Kakutani’s already-gone-viral review of “Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939,” which uses Volker Ehrlich’s biography of Adolf Hitler to draw implicit comparisons to the candidacy of Donald Trump.

Image by New York Times Screen Shot

Some choice lines: “Hitler was often described as an egomaniac who ‘only loved himself’ — a narcissist with a taste for self-dramatization and what Mr. Ullrich calls a ‘characteristic fondness for superlatives.’”

“Early on, revulsion at Hitler’s style and appearance, Mr. Ullrich writes, led some critics to underestimate the man and his popularity, while others dismissed him as a celebrity, a repellent but fascinating ‘evening’s entertainment.’”

And finally: “Hitler’s rise was not inevitable, in Mr. Ullrich’s opinion. There were numerous points at which his ascent might have been derailed.”

The parallels have already been pointed out — in the Washington Post and on Talking Points Memo, for example, and also, of course, on Twitter. Many many times on Twitter.

Read this+tell me it doesn’t remind you of @realDonaldTrump In ‘Hitler,’ an Ascent Via @nytimes https://t.co/9LHG6fuD3J

— Ari Ratner (@amratner) September 28, 2016

This review is beautiful and (spoilers) not really about Hitler. https://t.co/sYHY7fqAPi

— Emily Hughes ?✨ (@emilyhughes) September 28, 2016

Readers see a critique of Donald Trump in New York Times book review of “Hitler” https://t.co/S1GBpXtn61 pic.twitter.com/mpvPrfxXHA

— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) September 28, 2016

This brilliant book review is and is not about Adolf Hitler. Read closely. https://t.co/lzA91JczYb

— jodikantor (@jodikantor) September 28, 2016

This @michikokakutani review of a new book about the rise of Hitler is an epic subtweet about you-know-who: https://t.co/vvzp1go6Ne

— Andrew Hearst (@andrewhearst) September 27, 2016

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