Hitler was Not “Right Wing”. He Was a Far Left Socialist.

Despite What the American Left Claims Hitler Wasn’t Right Wing.

I watched Fox News Sunday, which is their political roundup show, and of course the topic of Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech in Europe came up. In his speech he encouraged European leaders to stand up for free speech and Democracy. Naturally the left was upset that Vance, a conservative and a child of Appalachia, would dare to criticize Europe’s woke leaders, some of whom are staunch leftists. And many were upset that Vance also met with Alice Weidel, leader of the Alternative for Germany Party. They claim that her party is “far right” and that she is a would-be dictator, even Hitler like. She has “ties” to Hitler sympathizers, so they claim. I admit that I am skeptical of what they say about her considering that they said similar false things about Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Trump.

I watched Fox News Sunday, which is their political roundup show, and of course the topic of Vice President J.D. Vance’s speech in Europe came up. In his speech he encouraged European leaders to stand up for free speech and Democracy. Naturally the left was upset that Vance, a conservative and a child of Appalachia, would dare to criticize Europe’s woke leaders, some of whom are staunch leftists. And many were upset that Vance also met with Alice Weidel, leader of the Alternative for Germany Party. They claim that her party is “far right” and that she is a would-be dictator, even Hitler like. She has “ties” to Hitler sympathizers, so they claim. I admit that I am skeptical of what they say about her considering that they said similar false things about Giorgia Meloni of Italy and Trump.

Well, Democrat Juan Williams opined that the Vice President’s speech in Germany, was inflammatory and even dangerous, he said, “if you (JD Vance) are sparking an outbreak of far-right nationalism in Europe you don’t have to be a student of history to understand that you are harkening back to Nazi’s and division.” The comment proves that Juan Williams is not a student of history, that is Hitler was not “right-wing.” Not to be outdone when it comes to historical ignorance, Margaret Brennan, with CBS also attempted to link Vance’s comments with Hitler, in an interview with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, she said:

“Well, he (Vance) was standing in a country (Formerly Nazi Germany) where free speech was weaponized to conduct a genocide.” Hitler was in favor on freedom of speech? Free speech led to a genocide? Hitler was a right winger like Vance. Wow. She went on, “He met with the head of a political party that has far-right views and some historic ties to extreme groups.” Brennan didn’t offer any evidence that Weidel’s Alternative for Germany party had, “some historic ties to extremist groups”, and she implies that Hitler was a Far-right winger.

On X, formerly Twitter, Bari Weiss said “While the left, long sympathetic with Stalin, today sympathizes with modern-day Nazis in the form of Hamas—this new right eulogizes the original ones.”

And a Football player also compared the Trump administration to the Nazi’s.

When we think of someone of the right politically, we usually think of a person, who believes in free markets, limited government, traditional values; a person who believes in the importance of the family to a nation’s health, and a person that respects property rights. And the America first conservative wants a strong national defense but doesn’t want to dominate the world or to try to remake other countries in America’s image. None of these attributes could be found in Hitler and his ideology, in fact it is just the opposite.

The only ones I ever knew on the right, that wanted world domination were, Dick Cheney, Liz Cheney and Bill Kristol, and today they don’t associate with the right.

I don’t think that there is a more persistent, pernicious and false myth in all of political science then the claim that Adolf Hitler, and his ideology was “right wing.” Such a false version of history is not an accident. It is pushed by academia and carried forward by the media. It is a deliberate smear, and it is designed to protect the left, and those that support big government.

Hitler’s Nazi party and Stalin’s Communist party were on the left end of the spectrum, on the right end might be Augusto Pinochet of Chile, and his Independent Democratic Union Party. Another example of a right-wing dictatorship might be found in a Theocracy, or a Monarchy, those systems that enforce a religion and national traditions on the public. The left is usually not religious, Stalin and Hitler, both atheists sought to create a new society, and to do that they attempted to erase religion and many of the country’s traditions, which those on the right would fight to preserve.

Even as a young political science student I was dismayed and naturally distrustful by my professors claim that Hitler was “right wing.” I would hear the young lefties referring to us on the right as ‘Nazis’, but that can’t be true I thought, we conservatives wanted limited government. Unlike Nazi’s we want government to leave people alone. We conservatives don’t want a police state, and without a police state the Nazi’s would not have been able to stay in power.

Another indicator for me that Nazis were not aligned with the right was their very name. Political parties in Germany and elsewhere make it clear where they stand ideologically by the name of their party. Conservative parties take names like, the Freedom Party, Family Party, Christian Democrats, Faith and Freedom Party, Liberal Party, Constitution Party, does anyone believe that a conservative, that is any anyone to the right of John Roberts, would be interested in joining a National Socialist Workers Party? Of course not.

Did Hitler believe in free markets and limited government? Of course not. Hitler admired Stalin, also ideologically on the left, for his control over the Soviet economy and indeed sought more control over the German economy saying, “his (Stalin) economic planning is so all-encompassing that it is only exceeded by our own Four-Year Plan. I have no doubts whatsoever that there have been no unemployed in the USSR, as opposed to capitalist countries such as the USA.”

Imagine if someone went to CPAC, a conference full of “right wingers”, which is going on this week and quoted Hitler on economic theory, for example spoke to the crowd and said, “A sensible employment of the powers of a nation can only be achieved with a planned economy from above.”

Would anyone applaud. No, just boos.

The other thing that would disqualify Hitler from being on the right, deals with his views on family and education. Hitler didn’t believe in the sanctity of marriage and the family like someone on the right would, his view would be the opposite of a conservative’s, he believed that children should be raised and educated by the state and raised to be good Nazi’s. Hitler would have agreed with Democrat candidate Terry McAuliffe’s view, “Parents have no business telling schools what to teach”, conversely, he would have opposed Youngkin’s “Parents Matter” campaign.

I would also offer further evidence that Hitler was not on the right by pointing out that he was a vegetarian, an anti-smoking nut, and an art snob who loved opera.

Hitler loved Wagner, had he been a conservative he would have preferred Bach.

David Shephard is the author of two books. Elections Have Consequences, A Cautionary Tale.

Norton’s Choice: An Inside Politics Exposé: Shephard, David: 9781892538802: Amazon.com: Books