Hitler's early geopolitical successes were due to his willingness to take chances, to move aggressively and unexpectedly, counting on his adversaries to be hesitant and cowardly. He had contempt for Liberal democracy. It worked great until Poland. Trump has been doing the same thing, except his occupations, invasions and annexations have been primarily economic and diplomatic, not territorial.

He has carefully cultivated his reputation as impulsive and dangerous, even crazy, so that potential adversaries are afraid to respond. He's counting on people like China to say to themselves "This guy's nuts, its better to humor and appease him than risk conflict, there's no telling what he'll do." Sooner or later this policy fails when someone calls his bluff.

The ultimate cause of this breakdown is that Trump is a bully, he is convinced all his adversaries are cowards and weak, he mistakes prudence for fear and he is convinced of his own exceptionalism. His contempt for others eventually leads to miscalculation. Then, like Hitler, he will find himself gradually being drawn into a morass of his own making, perhaps making some initial gains, but soon finding himself in a war of attrition where he really does not command the long term resources or productive capacity to prevail.

His lack of empathy, his inability to put himself in someone elses shoes, also will contribute to the eventual miscalculation. He finds it difficult to understand that others are also capable of acting irrationally (like foolishly risking a war over Poland for which they are not prepared). Trump's trade war threats all exhibit this flaw. He hasn't really thought out the full implications of his tariffs on the global trade balance, or how they might even backfire against American interests, or even benefit his opponents'.

The trade deals he is so determined to dismantle are not the Treaty of Versailles. They may have their flaws, but they were imposed by the US on other, weaker countries from a position of overwhelming strength, presumably because we felt they benefited us. It may be a mistake to act as if we were coerced into them because we were foolish and lazy. Every economic concession America has ever made has had strings attached; strings that tied political or military advantages to us in the long run. The Marshall Plan was not instituted because we were nice guys. That is what chess masters do, they trade pieces for position, and good positions for stronger ones.

It could even be argued Trump's bromance with Putin is an attempt to replicate the Hitler-Stalin pact, an attempt to temporarily outflank his perceived long-term rival, China. Hitler really wanted to occupy Eastern Europe and Western Russia. He never wanted war to the death with France and Britain, and certainly not with the US. Its way too easy to see the historical parallels, especially if you are looking far too hard for them and much too eager to find them. We can fool ourselves searching for patterns that may not actually exist. But having said that, it still doesn't mean they aren't there at all in some form.

Hitler's total contempt and lack of empathy for others led him to miscalculate how they would react when provoked. Sound familiar? History may not exactly repeat itself, but when you have similar personalities interacting in similar environments you will inevitably generate similar results. Except this time, we're the fascists.