Parallels to the beginnings of Nazi rule

Theologian: Trump policy is reminiscent of Hitler's Enabling Act

Munich - Social life in the USA has changed dramatically since President Donald Trump took office, according to Hille Haker, a theologian who teaches in Chicago. She draws a drastic comparison.

Published  on 03.02.2025 at 12:40  – 

Hille Haker, a German theologian who teaches in the USA, sees parallels between the current policies of Donald Trump 's administration and the beginnings of Nazi rule in Germany in the 1930s. "We can suddenly imagine what it was like after the Enabling Act of 1933," Haker told Bayerischer Rundfunk radio at the weekend. Democracy was being dismantled in a dramatic way.

Haker cited an example from her workplace. She has been teaching theological ethics at Loyola University Chicago, an institution of the Jesuit order, since 2012. She recently received an email from the university with tips on how to behave in the event that border police come into the lecture halls to search for people without papers. You should immediately contact the person responsible at the university, says Haker.

"If even he is afraid..."

The deportation of people from Latin America was a particular concern, the academic explained. A colleague with Cuban roots but US citizenship now constantly carries a copy of his passport in his wallet out of concern about checks. After all, the man in question is the US ambassador to the Vatican under President Barack Obama. "If even he is afraid - and not abstract fear, but fear that he will be apprehended - then you know what's going on here," said Haker. She added that something similar to the current situation for people with a Latin American background could soon also apply to religious minorities such as Muslims.

In this context, the theologian was pessimistic about legal protection: "The hope that the courts will intervene, as was the case in 2017, 2018, 2019 - that will no longer work here because this administration doesn't really care what the courts say." However, half of US society is against the president, Haker emphasised. There is an incredible willpower to oppose Trump's policies and numerous aid and solidarity measures, for example for migrants. (KNA)