Reductio ad Hitlerum: 60 years of Democrats falsely calling the Republican nominee a fascist

I was called a “Nazi” by a former friend and a former colleague. As the nephew of a Holocaust victim, this insult was both painful and ridiculous. Someday, I may find it in my heart to forgive these fools for insulting me. But I will never forgive them for belittling Nazism and trivializing the Holocaust.

If I am a Nazi, and if Trump is Hitler, then the Nazis were only mild conservatives, and Hitler was not responsible for the death of a single Jew. How can anyone forgive such willful ignorance? Such horribly sloppy use of words? Such moral myopia? I can’t forgive it. In fact, I shouldn’t.

For 60 years, Democrats have been calling the Republican nominee “Hitler.” The vicious invective against Trump is nothing new, only stronger. Even worse, it falls on ground already fertilized by the manure of hatred. So it is no surprise when would-be assassins sprout. But those who spread the manure and sowed the seeds will bear the guilt if violence blooms.

Words have consequences. Sometimes tragic consequences. Let us take care, lest we bear the guilt for these consequences.