Sam Harris

Yeah, it's interesting.

And recalling Hitler in this context is relevant.

It has been the case historically that fascist figures present, certainly before they achieve their aims, they present as comical figures.

I mean, they present as clowns.

They present as easy targets of ridicule, right?

So the...

The cultural machinery of satire gets working against them, but in these cases where they succeed, the satire proves ineffectual, right?

So if you look back in the late 20s and even early 30s in Germany,

Hitler was very often portrayed as a buffoon, as somebody who was not going to achieve his aims, quite obviously, because he was so comical and tawdry and norm-breaking.

And that clearly has been our attitude toward Trump all the while.

I mean, on some level, it still is, because I do think he lacks...

some of the things that proper demagogues like Hitler had.

But the fact that he's so entertaining and so seemingly harmless because he's just a colossal jackass on some basic level causes many people, and I think many people hearing this conversation will feel that

We are at every point exaggerating the danger, exaggerating the harms already committed, because when you take a look at this guy and the things he says, there's something deeply unserious about him as a person.

I mean, this is why we have, you know, his defenders effectively.

I mean, the main defense of him for now going on nearly a decade is or has been

you know, take him seriously, but not literally.

I mean, this is the first time in my lifetime where I've noticed people, serious people, seemingly serious people, telling everyone in sight not to care what the president of the United States says he's going to do, as though that could ever make sense.

And yet that's been the attitude.

It's just like, oh, he doesn't mean it.