I fear for our nation and the world if Trump gets access to the White House.

It gives me that much more resolve to get out and help Democrats win in November up and down the ticket.

Hitler's popularity came AFTER he came to power. Trump is more like a Huey P. Long or other populist, his attraction is what will put him in power. Trump has no "brown shirts" upon which to call. He cannot intimidate people through threats of violence. If he wins, it will be because of Hillary's inability to convince people that the democrats should get 4 more years in the White House. If he loses, he will not then orchestrate a coup. He'll just go on the lecture circuit and make millions.

In the Reichstag elections leading up to his being appointed chancellor, the Nazi Party became the single largest voting block in that representative body. Which is why the conservatives of the time tried to co-opt Hitler and his party, as opposed to ignoring or confronting him outright.

But you're right, being in power gave Hitler the opportunities to exploit events like the Reichstag fire (which may or may not have been deliberately set by the Nazis) and the tools of state power he needed to rig all further elections and marginalize and then eliminate his opposition.

You don't think a Trump administration won't take a similar course? You don't think, for instance, that Trump in the White House for four years won't lead to massive voter disenfranchisement, in an attempt to solidify GOP control for another generation? You don't believe Trump would use the powers inherent in the office of the presidency to harass and silence his opposition, much as Nixon tried to do with far fewer tools at his disposal?

The most radical elements of the German left of the 1930s made the same mistake some of the more intractable elements of the American left are making today. They called the Social Democrats "Social Fascists" and refused to vote for the Social Democrats in the last presidential election before Hitler's appointment, insuring that Hindenburg--a confirmed right winger--would take that office. Hindenburg was then in the position to appoint Hitler as chancellor, with all that followed. The Social Democratic candidate (whose name, I believe, was Marx--quite an ironic coincidence) would never have agreed to that.

BTW, Huey Long was only stopped by an assassin's bullet, so it's difficult to know how far he might have gone, and how much damage he might have done. And so to my mind seeing certain parallels between Long and Trump is far from reassuring.

Without the Brown Shirts, or it's equivalent, and/or the cooperation of our military forces, no I don't think he can repeat the events of 1930 Germany. Hitler came to power through a lot of violence and intimidation. Trump isn't doing that, and I'm dubious he can, even if in office. Even Nixon showed that it is nearly impossible to sustain that kind of tactic. Heck, even Cheney couldn't sustain it.

1930's Germany was influence PRIMARILY by the absolutely disastrous economic conditions at the time brought on from the ruinous treaty from WWI. There is no current equivalent right now in the US. Even a recession wouldn't come close to it.

There's a lot to be concerned about Trump, but we are not in the position that 1930's Europe was, nor even 1930's US. To be honest, Trump could be the GOP Carter, opposed by both sides of the aisle. Washington has a very entrenched infrastructure and even Trump doesn't know how to manipulate it.

No despot, no matter how persuasive, can maintain popular support for long if the economy continues to languish.

The policy of the banking cartel to not only forgive German debt, but to even resume lending on a large scale, was key to stabilizing the depressed, Versailles debt-burdened German economy.

Once the economy was stabilized, Hitler went on a massive pump-priming spending spree - again, with the enthusiastic support of foreign banks (Chase Manhattan, particularly).

With an economy growing at 7% a year and with full employment by 1938, the rest was relatively easy for the Nazis.

Trump is clearly mentally unstable and driven by his out-of-control ego. His brand of nationalism, xenophobia, authoritarianism, demonization of select groups of people, political opposition and critics in the media shows all the hallmarks of fascism. The fact that he has so much support, even if he fails in November, is frightening. Have we learned nothing from the past? One difference between Hitler and Trump is that Trump would have access to a nuclear arsenal.