Alan Dershowitz, the longtime Harvard Law School professor emeritus and outspoken defender of President Donald Trump, on Tuesday, March 24, stirred fresh controversy with a bold historical claim: had Trump occupied the Oval Office in the mid-1930s instead of Franklin D. Roosevelt, he would have stopped Adolf Hitler, and the Holocaust might never have happened.
Appearing on a cable news panel, Dershowitz argued that Trump’s decisive style would have led to early action against Adolf Hitler and the rising Nazi threat, long before the systematic murder of six million Jews occurred across Europe.
“Trump would have taken out Hitler and the Nazis,” he said, pointing to what he described as the president’s willingness to act preemptively against dangers.
The remarks come at a tense moment, the United States and Israel are locked in an active military conflict with Iran, now in its fourth week.
The U.S. and Israel have attacked Iranian military bases, nuclear sites, and leaders. In response, Iran has fired missiles at Israel and blocked oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Trump has gone back and forth between threatening Iran and suggesting that foreign progress is being made, even though Iranian officials say there are no serious talks going on.
Dershowitz, who has advised Trump in the past and defended him during impeachment proceedings, framed his hypothetical as a contrast with Roosevelt’s initial caution.
Hitler Wreaking Havoc
In the 1930s, as widely reported in history books, much of the American public favored isolationism, and FDR moved slowly to confront the Nazis despite growing reports of persecution.
Dershowitz said that Trump’s way of talking tough and making quick decisions could have changed that path.
However, Americans on social media mocked the idea, noting Trump’s past comments praising certain historical strongmen and his family’s complicated history.
Some recalled Fred Trump’s reported involvement in a 1920s arrest at a KKK rally in Queens, though the president has long disputed any family ties to white supremacist groups.
Others pointed to the strong isolationist “America First” movement in the United States at the time, a slogan Trump himself revived during his political rise.
Dershowitz has faced his own share of scrutiny over the years. The 86-year-old attorney represented high-profile clients, including O.J. Simpson, and was mentioned in documents related to Jeffrey Epstein, though he has always denied any wrongdoing, and no charges were ever filed against him.
His close association with Trump has cost him friendships in liberal circles, something he has acknowledged publicly.
On the ongoing war in the Middle East, which triggered him to opine that Trump would have stopped Hitler, Dershowitz has described the current conflict as one of the most significant since World War II.
In recent appearances, he has warned that Iran’s nuclear ambitions and regional aggression represent an existential threat similar in scale to the dangers of the 1930s.
He has urged strong action to prevent Tehran from obtaining weapons that could threaten Israel and destabilize the Middle East.
In the current Iran crisis, Trump has deployed additional troops to the region while claiming productive back-channel talks that could result in a broader resolution.
Also Read: Has America Lost the Iran War? Trump Hints It Was Not His Idea to Bomb Tehran
Oil prices have fluctuated wildly in the midst of the uncertainty, and markets reacted positively on Monday when he announced a short delay in potential strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure.
Dershowitz has made similar provocative statements before, often in defense of Trump against accusations of authoritarian leanings.
He once argued that comparing Trump to Hitler bordered on Holocaust denial, a position that drew its own backlash.
Meanwhile, the war with Iran is still grinding on, with fresh strikes reported Tuesday in Tel Aviv and Iranian targets. At least six people were injured after a missile impacted in Israel.
