Chomsky: Trump Popular for Same Reasons Hitler Was

Poor social conditions, fear and unemployment are giving rise to the Adolph Hitler-like fascism championed by real estate billionaire Donald Trump in his bid for the United States Republican presidential nomination, renowned linguist and political analyst Noam Chomsky said in an interview.

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“Fear, along with the breakdown of society during the neoliberal period,” were the reasons behind Trump’s popularity among Republicans in the U.S., Chomsky said during an interview with Alternet website. “People feel isolated, helpless, victims of powerful forces that they do not understand and cannot influence.”

Chomsky said the current global situation and economic uncertainty is also similar to what existed during the last century and gave momentum to fascist leaders like Hitler. “It’s interesting to compare the situation in the ‘30s, which I’m old enough to remember,” Chomsky said.

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“Objectively, poverty and suffering were far greater. But even among poor working people and the unemployed, there was a sense of hope that is lacking now, in large part because of the growth of a militant labor movement and also the existence of political organizations outside the mainstream.”

Meanwhile, the leading academic drew similarities between Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders and movements that existed during that same era at the beginning of the last century.

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Sanders is an “an honest and decent New Deal Democrat,” according to Chomsky and the backlash against his campaign points to a troubling shift within the current political scene. “The fact that (Sanders) is regarded as ‘extreme’ is a comment on the shift to the right of the whole political spectrum during the neoliberal period.”