When historians compare Hitler and Trump, we are not comparing the men. We are comparing the people’s reaction to the men. Weimar Germans in the 1920s were very similar to Americans today. They had the same hopes, fears, and biases that allowed them to be seduced by authoritarianism. So when Trump’s actions are compared to Hitler’s actions, we are not asking readers to see how they mirror each other; we are asking readers to hold up a mirror to themselves.