Is New York Times Critic Comparing Trump to Hitler?
Image by Getty Images, gettyimages
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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