To fulfill this mandate to educate, the creators of the Netflix documentary series, Hitler and the Nazis: Evil on Trial, needed only to tell the story again, to let the narrative speak for itself. In certain respects, they do this, deploying a mix of real footage from the Nazi era, choreographed scenes with actors to fill in the gaps, and historical commentary that conveys the story of Hitler’s life and how one man directed a respectable country towards evil. But the series is handicapped by crucial flaws. Chief among these is its attempts to compare the Weimar Republic and its chief villain to contemporary American politics. Its loud dog whistles equating Adolf Hitler and Donald Trump betray a desperation of the creators that goes beyond the limits of acceptable bias in such a way as to undermine the aim of the entire project. ...

If we wish to use history’s examples as instructive maps for the present, it would behoove journalists and educators (and documentary makers) to refrain from twisting the present to fit into history’s categories. To suggest that Trump is Adolf Hitler is about as helpful as suggesting that Kamala Harris is Joseph Stalin. Precisely because such comparisons are grossly inaccurate, they cheapen the utility of these historical examples whose lessons should be always kept in the back of our minds. Like charges of racism or xenophobia, frequent misapplication of the “fascist” label will only incline audiences to roll their eyes when we need to deploy the word to confront an actual racist, xenophobic, or genocidal maniac.