Brother Trump and Brother Hitler View(s):By Grzegorz Kwiatkowski, PROJECT SYNDICATE, EXCLUSIVE TO THE SUNDAY TIMES IN SRI LANKAGDAŃSK – In 1939, the German writer Thomas Mann published his essay “Hitler”, in which he rejected the comforting myth of Adolf Hitler as a superhuman monster. Instead, Mann portrayed Hitler as a mediocre, lazy failure whose destructive power stemmed precisely from his ordinariness. He called Hitler “brother” to underscore the fact that fascist demagoguery relies on impulses that exist within us all. Rather, he insisted that figures like Hitler rise to power when those dark impulses are repeatedly fed and rewarded. To be sure, the struggle against the dark impulses that animate Trumpism is never-ending.

Source: Sunday Times February 08, 2026 06:06 UTC