You Do Not, Under Any Circumstances, "Gotta Hand it to Hitler"

Let's have some sense of proportion

The war in Ukraine is leading to Hitler apologia as pundits reaching for soundbite comparisons are going further and further away from reality.

On MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow Show Friday night, former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul favorably compared German Nazi leader Adolf Hitler to modern Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Unlike Hitler, McFaul said to fill-in host Ali Velshi, Putin is bombing people with similar ethnic backgrounds. McFaul preceded the comments by noting he was paraphrasing “brave” journalists who allegedly made the comparison in the first place,

“One difference between Hilter, when he was coming in, and Putin—Hitler didn't kill ethnic Germans, German-speaking people,” McFaul said.

“Putin slaughters the very people he said he has come to liberate,” McFaul added

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Unhinged

McFaul contributor continues to double and triple down on his claims, such as his apparent belief that Jewish people whose families had been in Germany for generations were not Germans.

As revolting as these comments are, they’re not out of place.

During the weeks-old Ukraine war—and before—McFaul’s commentary has been more and more unhinged.

He’s claimed that sanctions should aggressively target the Russian people until they depose Putin, called for nuclear brinkmanship on the assumption Russia will back down, and suggested Russia should lose its permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

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Conspiracy theories for the liberal set

These ravings are, clearly, noise from a very stupid man. But McFaul has found the perfect audience in MSNBC’s primetime viewers. Maddow’s official show Twitter account highlighting and promoting a guest rehabbing Hitler to attack Russia is only shocking if you’ve paid zero attention to her over the past six years.

After years of being pumped full of all manner of deranged conspiracy theories about Russia—primarily from Maddow herself, though she’s hardly the only offender—the network’s watchers are conspiratorial and paranoid and ready to hear any level of image rehabilitation if it’s in service of demonizing Russians.

Condemning the Russian invasion and attack on Ukraine is not difficult. It doesn’t require comparing the modern Russian state to the Nazis.

Someone should tell McFaul.

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