LinkedIn on Monday, May 4, 2026
Image is from “Real Time” marketing material.
On last Friday’s episode of “Real Time,” host Bill Maher complained that anti-Trump rhetoric was contributing to the political violence of our time – that the problem is not just the mean-speak of President Trump himself and his followers. Bill’s point was that Trump’s opponents should carefully consider the language they use to express dissatisfaction with the President’s leadership.
Bill was particularly critical of those who have referred to Trump as “America’s Hitler.” True, Trump has not, thank goodness, committed the atrocities, of biblical proportions, that Adolf Hitler accomplished. That said, Trump’s use of ICE para-military forces is certainly authoritarian. Likewise, his reckless use of our military in the Middle East – and hurtful treatment of the Cuban people by illegally denying them access to the Venezuelan oil critical to their economy. And, perhaps most importantly, there’s the estimated 600,000 to 760,000 people of color who have died as a direct result of his shutting down USAID. These are not things that kind or even just sane democratic leaders do.
Trump is not Hitler, but then we’ve got to appreciate why some people – upset by what Trump has been doing to our county, our people, to our democracy and traditions of empathy and good will here and around the world – might be tempted to compare President Trump to Hitler out loud.
Do words matter? Of course they do, but the voices of frustration are a form of protest that is essential to problem solving by a free society. Calling Trump America’s Hitler is not the same as shouting “FIRE!” in a theater. Even if the result is political violence, as reprehensible as it is, we can’t blame the sound of dissent, the cause of which is the dementia of the authoritarian leader to whom that speech is directed. No way can we allow that leader’s behavior to curtail the freedom of speech exercised by those who would protest his behavior.
Trump is the problem, not those who react to him. Bill Maher, of whom I’m a big fan, should know better. I’m guessing he’s just wishing for nicer times. Me too.
-Les
