According to the L.A. Times, William Shirer, Alan Bullock, and countless other Nazi historians, Adolf Hitler was one of the wealthiest men in Europe. Donald Trump’s net worth this year will finally surpass that of Hitler’s. More than six billion versus the Führer’s paltry five billion.
One doesn’t think of Hitler as a billionaire, but he achieved his great riches in a very similar fashion to our commander in chief: Once elected to office, he never again paid income taxes. He made a fortune from his best-selling book, Mein Kampf, which virtually every German citizen had to buy at full retail price. He received royalties for every postage stamp and poster bearing his face and had access to a tremendous personal “slush fund” that the monied elite of Germany and Austria were more than willing to share with him. If he wanted something, be it a castle or a top-of-the-line Mercedes, it became his. Like Trump, he viewed the wealth of his country as his personal piggy bank.
When Hitler was first elected, he swore to the German people he would leave office with nothing. He repeatedly vowed that he was only working for the people’s sake. He lied.
One of Hitler’s greatest joys, like Trump’s, was using the power and money of his rule to build wonderful toys for himself and his friends.
For example, Hitler not only had a ballroom, but he also had an entire castle built to his personal specifications by Albert Speer. Built as an outpost for the Imperial Chancellery, Berchtesgaden became one of Hitler’s favorite places to hang out, so, in no time, it also became the “in” spot for his sycophants to toady up to him.
Like Trump, Hitler also had a lavish suite of hotel rooms. The Prinzregentenplatz, commissioned by Martin Bormann and paid for by the Nazi Party, was full of the art that Hitler plundered from throughout his conquests.
Hitler one-upped Trump by having his face put on every postage stamp and poster printed in Germany. For this, he demanded a hefty royalty that paid him tens of millions.
What I’m sure Trump admired about this is that as soon as Hitler had power, he was given, like Trump, a total income tax exemption. No one in his government was allowed to see his earnings. Soon, most of Hitler’s loyal followers were also given these exemptions. Since so much of Germany’s newfound wealth was from the plunder of the rest of Europe, this, at first, didn’t really hurt the Nazi economy. It would eventually prove disastrous.
Finally, like Hitler, Trump has now put together a variety of political slush funds. In fact, these funds pay to Trump staggering amounts of money. None of it is taxed or subject to any kind of regulatory oversight.
From the time he became chancellor until his death in 1945, Hitler received some $3 billion in corporate slush fund payments. This was a classic win-win situation. The arms industry paid Hitler, and he then bought massive amounts of planes, tanks, battleships, etc. for the war. Profit margins for both parties were impressive. To Hitler, there were few distinctions between his own money and the state’s. It was all mixed together.
Hitler loved to show off his expensive Teutonic furniture and expansive red marble fireplace mantel. He built a projection booth for evening screening. It’s said Hitler loved the Mickey Mouse movies.
Before the war, the media gave Hitler a pass on his wealth. He was portrayed as a man of the people. American editors ran his propaganda as sentimental images of just a man with cute dogs and children. Life magazine published a 1937 feature on Hitler, depicting him on its cover cozying up to his dogs with the caption “Where Hitler Dreams.”This month, Donald Trump has finally surpassed Hitler in wealth accumulation. Let’s hope he doesn’t equal or top Hitler in other catastrophic categories.
