Louis CK is invoking the “H” word in a letter asking people not to vote for Donald Trump. The comedian thinks Trump is a new incarnation of German dictator Adolf Hitler and wants conservatives to not vote for him. Via The Daily Beast’s transcript of CK’s newsletter (language cleaned up):

Please stop it with voting for Trump. It was funny for a little while. But the guy is Hitler. And by that I mean that we are being Germany in the 30s. Do you think they saw the [crap] coming? Hitler was just some hilarious and refreshing dude with a weird comb over who would say anything at all…

I get that all these people sound like [bull crap] soft criminal opportunists. The whole game feels rigged and it’s not going anywhere but down anymore. I feel that way sometimes.

And that voting for Trump is a way of saying “[frack] it. [Frack] them all”. I really get it. It’s a version of national Suicide. Or it’s like a big hit off of a crack pipe. Somehow we can’t help it. Or we know that if we vote for Trump our phones will be a reliable source of dopamine for the next four years. I mean I can’t wait to read about Trump every day. It’s a rush. But you have to know this is not healthy.

If you are a true conservative. Don’t vote for Trump. He is not one of you. He is one of him. Everything you have heard him say that you liked, if you look hard enough you will see that he one day said the exact opposite. He is playing you.

Before someone goes off and says, “Oh, Louis CK is just some left wing comic,” he’s actually not. CK writes the next president should be a conservative because “we had Obama for eight years and we need balance.” So this isn’t like George Clooney criticizing Trump because he’s an avowed Hillary Clinton supporter. Here is someone who believes the country should be in the hands of conservatives, just not Trump.

My only concern is invoking the name, “Adolf Hitler.” He’s a leader in his own special realm of evil, along with Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong, of statists who made sure millions of people were killed because they disagreed with the Powers That Be. I’m not sure saying “Trump is Hitler” is wise because there was (thankfully) only one Hitler. Anne Frank’s stepsister told Newsweek Trump is acting like another Hitler because she thinks he’s inciting racism. She may be right too based on Trump getting supporters at a Florida rally to either do a loyalty oath to him or swear to vote in the primary. But there’s a big difference between the two because one is going after Trump’s statements and positions and the other is a broad characterization.

The other worry is the fact the name “Hitler” has been used so many other times to describe leaders the opposition doesn’t like. How often have George W. Bush and Barack Obama been compared to Hitler? There may be a time when Hitler does come to U.S. politics, but how effective is the “OMG! He’s Hitler reborn” warning going to actually work if Americans have been told “wolf” over and over again? It’s more than likely going to be DOA because no one will be willing to listen. So people need to be very careful when they decide to invoke the name of dictators who have preyed on their people and send them to the gas chamber or gallows. The U.S. is lucky to have NOT dealt with a Hitler as leader (Japanese internment camps, press crackdowns, and NSA spying notwithstanding), and I think people need to be VERY careful when bringing his name up as a slur against the opposing party. The name “Hitler” brings about such a strong reaction from both sides, it’s not easy to quell those emotions once the comparison is out.

This isn’t suggesting people shouldn’t be on the look out for politicians who want to take away our freedom. They need to be watchful for every single chance that freedom is put at risk. But they also need to not immediately yell, “HITLER!” or “SOCIALIST!” when someone comes along. The better way is to explain why the “common sense proposal” really isn’t common sense, or why the government doesn’t need to be involved. This way people can learn about freedom vs. government intervention, so they can see why the former is better than the latter. It also means listening to others who try tactics that actually work. Yelling “Constitution! Constitution!” may not be the best strategy, but talking about how government bureaucracy hurts more than helps might work. It just depends on the audience.