The United States has an advantage against Trump that Germany did not have against Hitler

Trump attacked Venezuela, Hitler invaded Poland… An ICE officer killed a citizen in broad daylight in Minneapolis. Gestapo agents also murdered civilians in the streets.

It would be unnecessary, and even morbid, to dwell on the international and domestic infamies committed by the current administration in the first week of 2026. It would also be unfair to suggest it was only seven days of abuse and irrationality. For many people, this has been a truly exhausting, and even terrifying year.

Who can deny today the similarities between Adolf Hitler and President Donald Trump? Who would dare to refute the clear parallels between his government and the Third Reich? They probably will, Trump’s defenders, with the cynicism that defines them, but they will have no arguments.

The government itself has been publishing Nazi propaganda without shame for months on the official social media accounts of its main agencies. Or are they going to deny that the Department of Labor’s “little joke” of posting “One Homeland. One People. One Heritage” is exactly the same as “Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer,” the central slogan of the Nazi Party in Germany?

It is also willfully foolish to deny the human catastrophe that Adolf Hitler’s regime represented, if only because more than 70 million people, combatants and civilians, died, according to United Nations estimates. That ideology now echoed by the Department of Labor (and other departments alongside this administration), grounded in so-called Aryan racial supremacy, destroyed the moral and legal foundations of modern civilization.

Fortunately, the United States has an advantage against Trump that Germany did not have against Hitler.

When Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939, the vast majority of the German people supported Hitler enthusiastically. It was no longer only about manipulated plebiscites, but rather an authentic emotional and nationalist attachment, fueled by years of propaganda and political triumphs.

Several historians use the studies of the Sicherheitsdienst (the intelligence service of the SS which monitored the “mood of the people”) to argue that support for Hitler at that moment stood between 85 and 90 percent, with a general feeling of pride and confidence in the Führer. Moreover, the historical record does show that the streets of Berlin, Munich, and Hamburg filled with crowds cheering the start of the war, convinced they were going to make Germany great again.

Hitler had the vast majority of the German people in his pocket. But Trump?

Today, the average of all polls, compiled by the conservative political news site and data aggregator RealClear Politics, puts Donald Trump’s approval at 43.8 percent, versus 52.7 percent disapproval.

It is striking that their compilation includes Fox News, the propaganda ministry of Trumpism: a channel that left journalism behind to serve as the president’s echo chamber, applauding without nuance, distorting facts, repeating fallacies, and manufacturing enemies to sustain a narrative of fear. And yet even Fox News gives Trump 44 percent approval, against 56 percent disapproval.

So not everything is lost. We must keep insisting that, as a community, we absolutely can make a difference. In 2023, the Pew Research Center showed that there are more than 37 million people of Mexican origin in the United States—more than 65 million if we count all Latinos. The same institute notes that more than 36 million Latinos were eligible to vote as of 2024.

Forgive the audacity of this question, but: has the monster of fascism already awakened the sleeping giant, or are we going to keep resting on our laurels?

(*) J. Antonio Ruiz H. is a Mexican American journalist and a graduate of the Carlos Septién García School of Journalism; he holds a degree from that institution and a professional license issued by the National Registry of Professionals of the SEP (Ministry of Public Education) in Mexico. He currently produces and hosts the program “Con Toño Ruiz” on YouTube. For several years, he served as news chief for Azteca América’s newscasts and as Director General of News at Sin Censura TV.