Fact Check: Is the textbook graph showing Trump ideologically similar to Hitler real?
WASHINGTON, DC: Amid geopolitical tensions following the fragile ceasefire deal with Iran, which ended the weeks-long war, a rumor has been circulating on social media platforms.
The claim alleges that a textbook graph from an American school book showed President Donald Trump as ideologically similar to Adolf Hitler. Let us fact-check the viral claim.
Claim: Textbook graph shows Trump ideologically similar to Hitler
The claim surfaced after an image circulated online in April, purportedly showing a graph in a high school American government textbook that depicted Trump as ideologically similar to Adolf Hitler.
The image was first shared on X by Markowicz, a conservative columnist for the New York Post and Fox News.
The post was accompanied by a caption stating, “A teen cousin showed me this in her AP American Government book. Trump is similar ideologically to Hitler, and Bernie Sanders is a touch off the center to the left.”
The image also drew attention from the platform’s owner, Elon Musk, and conservative podcaster Trish Regan.
Fact Check: True, the graph did appear in a school textbook
The claim is true, as the graph shared in social media posts appeared in American Government: Stories of a Nation, a high school textbook published by Bedford/St. Martin's and Macmillan Publishers in 2019.
The graph classified both Trump and Hitler as highly authoritarian.
A spokesperson for Macmillan Publishers confirmed to Snopes that the graph was part of a "critical thinking exercise" and that it included modern politicians to "prompt students to oppose or defend particular perspectives."
The Political Compass, mentioned by the textbook authors as the data source, stated that it was “not responsible” for how the graph appeared in the textbook.
In response, Macmillan Publishers explained that while the authors used publicly available data from The Political Compass, the graph was not created by the website or taken directly from it.
However, it remains unclear how many schools used American Government: Stories of a Nation or where Macmillan Publishers distributed the book, as of this writing.
Report claims Trump praised Hitler
According to a bombshell report from October 2024, Trump once said he needed “the kind of generals that Hitler had” during his time in the White House.
The claims about Trump’s alleged comment come from The Atlantic, which reported that Trump privately said: “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.”
According to Trump’s former chief of staff, John Kelly, the former real estate and entertainment mogul fits the mold of a “fascist.”
