“What the German people regret, you soon find, is not that they made this war, but that they lost it. If only Hitler had listened to his generals during the Russian campaign . . .”
–William L. Shirer, Berlin, Nov. 3, 1945. End of a Berlin Diary (Knopf, 1947), p 131
You can’t say much for their morals, but even postwar Germans did not admire Hitler’s generals for their subservience to the Fuehrer, according to William L. Shirer, author of the landmark Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Rather than harboring Donald Trump’s reported view of “the kind of generals that Hitler had,” in hindsight, they felt that Adolf Schicklgruber had led his country to ruin in refusing to be guided by his generals.
Trump has denied making the statement about Hitler’s generals. However, the subtext stands intact: there is little doubt that in military matters a President Trump would be perfectly willing to replace ability with malleability. After all, it’s what he has tried to do with the U.S. economy and the U.S. justice system. And while I eschew hysterical accusations of fascism and careless allusions to Hitler—especially from people silent on the reprisals in Gaza–the subtext assessment of Hitler’s generals is valid. As Shirer summed up,
“In other words, the German military went along. Not a single general, until it was too late, had the guts really to stand up to Hitler.”
End of a Berlin Diary, p 312
As said, Trump has denied making the statement. It will be interesting to see whether the two reported hearers go public.
Meanwhile, you can see why he has denied it. For one thing, blusterers usually retreat from pushback. For another, it’s a classic Sillyman comment. Wishing for the kind of generals Hitler had—btw, Germany lost the war—is a little like saying, “We need more officers like General Custer.” Or “I need the kind of generals that Jeff Davis had.” (The South lost the Civil War.) Probably Trump’s denial will pass muster with his firmest supporters. To do them justice, they can point to all the times Trump was wrongly dismissed out of hand—the sneering at his “germophobia” before the pandemic; the smugly wrong predictions that no vaccine could be produced for years; the supposed impossibility of his winning in 2016; etc.
Civilian control of the military is essential in a democracy. The principle is bedrock in the U.S. Constitution. But honest counsel is also essential. Historians, philosophers, and poets have concurred for millennia that tyrants do not get good counsel. Hence, a gasbag and a bully is not a genuine strong man.
He can still do genuine harm. The gasbag now posturing as a shadow president and soliciting foreign dictators is facilitating the slaughter in Gaza. Stepping outside the Constitution and beyond the water’s edge, he is basically giving Netanyahu carte blanche.