Donald Trump has been running a very unique and controversial campaign over the last several months. His attempts to become the Republican presidential nominee have garnered criticism from most and praise from some.
The billionaire uses language that most other candidates would not. He has also espoused certain ideas that have made a large number of voters view him as racist, uninformed or bigoted. Trump currently shows no signs of softening his campaign message or rhetoric. This is especially true after his massive and commanding wins on Super Tuesday where he easily outpaced the other Republican presidential candidates.
The rise of Donald Trump as an almost inevitable Republican nominee for president has led to a backlash from average citizens, political pundits and elected officials. This includes Republican officials who are actively attempting to run ads against him and neuter his campaign. Few of those efforts are having any noticeable impact on Trump’s poll numbers. Some recent polls show that Trump has the support of 49 percent of the registered Republican voting base despite unfavorable numbers far higher than that. The belief that Trump once had a solid ceiling of around 30 percent support in the party has since been shattered.
One person on the YouTube channel SoFlo decided to try an experiment to see what Trump supporters really think. The idea was to create a false Donald Trump pamphlet listing off quotes from the candidate. The prankster, however, replaced Trump quotes with those from infamous mass murderer and dictator Adolph Hitler. The stunt is receiving some criticism. It is generally seen as being in bad taste to compare modern political figures to Hitler. This is because the war crimes and atrocities Hitler was responsible for are so bad that they should not be used as political tools. Not everyone agrees with this idea.
The prankster went on the street and found a handful of people who were adamant Donald Trump supporters. He started reading quotes such as “The more economic difficulties increase, the more immigration will be seen as a burden.” He went on to ask whether the people agreed with the idea that “How fortunate for governments that the people they administer don’t think.” Another quote was “I do not see why man should not be just as cruel as nature.” He finally asked for thoughts on the quote “Great liars are also great magicians.”
The people being asked about the quotes were surprisingly receptive to the ideas. They did not just say that the quote was fine. Most actually went on to explain why the quote was correct and is a core belief of Trump. One man stated that Democrats in office do not think. Another stated in a strange response that immigrants would cease coming to the United States if the economy improved. A man wearing a tie produced by Donald Trump shrugged and said that humankind is the cruelest animal making the quote correct. A woman claimed that Trump would certainly lie to help the country and that his lies would all be “good” in her opinion.
The man revealed to each participant that the quotes were really from Hitler. It did not dissuade the people from wanting to vote for Trump. One man flatly claimed that he believed the interviewer was just lying and the quotes really were from Trump. A man on the street actually claimed “Hitler did some good things.” The experiment is relevant because Donald Trump is currently being compared to a fascist due to the policies and ideas he is putting forth. This had made many people uncomfortable with the thought of an actual Trump presidency. It is still not known whether Trump will win the Republican nomination when all is said and done.