I Hate Hitler Comparisons . . . Most of the Time.

When Adolf Hitler first came into power in 1933, he promised his people a glorious, 1,000-year Reich where they would rule the world. On 8 May 1945, that delusional dream became just that – only a dream. Sir Arthur Travis Harris, also affectionately known as “Bomber Harris” by some and “Butcher” by others, took over the reigns of Royal Air Force (RAF) Bomber Command in February 1942. This highly single-minded and focused combat commander once wrote, “The Germans entered this war under the rather childish delusion that they were going to bomb everyone else, and nobody was going to bomb them. At Rotterdam, London, Warsaw, and half a hundred other paces, they put their rather naïve theory into operation. They sowed the wind, and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.”

On 30 May 1942, the RAF launched its first 1,000-plane raid against the German city of Cologne. It would be bombed a further 261 times during the war. On the night of 23/24 July 1943 (OPERATION GOMORRAH), the RAF, followed by the US the next day and for a little over a week afterwards, utterly gutted a large portion of the city of Hamburg. Up to 45,000 people were killed. Night after night, city after city was leveled by Allied airpower, culminating with the destruction of Dresden on the night of 13/14 February 1945 when 25,000 civilians were killed. Ten days later, the city of Pforzheim was effectively erased from the map and a full ¼ of the city’s inhabitants, 17,000 people were killed. Whether it was Kassel, Munich, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Berlin, Heinsberg or any of the other cities destroyed by the Allies, the Germans paid a heavy price for their aggression.

In the title of this Robservation-Lite, I said I hate Hitler comparisons – most of the time. Why? Easy, most of the time the comparisons are completely stupid, false and uttered by people who have no understanding of history. Witness now, yours truly is going to make a Hitler comparison. From the first 1,000-plane raid against Cologne in 1942 until the end of the war, how many times did Hitler actually go to those cities to see the damage for himself? Speak to his people who were hurting and demoralized? The homeless? The hungry? Those wanting some reassurance of the direction the Reich was taking? The answer to these questions is the big “goose egg.” Never. He never visited these cities because he never wanted to see the results of what his policies created. In all honesty, he may have visited Berlin because, uh, he lived there part of the time. Those things that were 100% his fault, his doing, his shame and his alone. Hitler was content to ignore reality and often ran away and hid in his private retreat either in Berchtesgaden in Bavaria or his Wolf’s Lair in Prussia. He was a moral coward in so many ways but this is just one circumstance that resonated with me the other day while I was watching a news segment.

So now I have to ask the following questions. I hate to but I must. How many times has President Biden gone to the border to see what his policies have created? How many times has he talked to the American citizens in Texas or Arizona during this past year’s invasion of illegals? Talked to the ranchers whose properties have been overrun with illegals? What plan does he have to correct it? The answer to these questions, just like Hitler is the big “goose egg.” Zero. Zip. Nadda. He has definitely not gone to the border as President and according some sources, it cannot be ascertained if he ever has. Instead of a mountain retreat in Bavaria, since his Presidency, Mr. Biden has continually run away to Delaware most weekends when he clearly could go to the border if he ever cared. Clearly, he doesn’t.

Much like Hitler, it seems as though President Biden cannot face the facts of the monster he has created and like the proverbial ostrich with its head buried in the ground, refuses to face the truth that is before him. Unlike rotten teeth in your mouth that if ignored they will go away, the crisis at the border is not going to disappear simply because Biden or anyone else in his administration refuses to accept it. After the Hamburg bombing, many German leaders implored Hitler to go and see for himself what had happened. Talk to the people. Reassure them. Exactly like Joe Biden refusing the requests of American governors to come and see for himself what is actually happening at the border, however, Hitler refused to face his reality but instead immersed himself in a bubble of denial and surrounded himself with an army of pitiful yes men who refused to tell the emperor he had no clothes.

You know, for the most part I do hate Hitler analogies. In this case, however, this comparison is spot on. Change my mind.