Comparing Governmental Changes: Trump Administration and Hitler’s Germany

What executive orders has Trump signed after taking office?

The past several months have seen significant executive actions by the Trump administration in its second term, which have prompted some to draw historical comparisons. This report examines documented changes to governmental structures implemented by Donald Trump since January 2025 alongside historical changes implemented by Adolf Hitler in Germany during the 1930s. While recognizing the vastly different historical contexts, this analysis focuses specifically on governmental transformation approaches, executive authority expansion, and institutional changes.

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Constitutional and Legal Framework Modifications

Hitler’s Transformation of Legal Authority

The Enabling Act was passed despite requiring a challenging two-thirds majority vote. The Nazi regime achieved this by preventing all 81 Communist delegates and 26 Social Democrats from taking their seats, detaining them in Nazi-controlled camps4. Additionally, SA and SS members were stationed in the chamber to intimidate the remaining representatives. The Supreme Court did not challenge this process, instead accepting the vote as legitimate despite the absence of opposition delegates.

Adolf Hitler’s rise to power was cemented through strategic legal modifications that fundamentally transformed Germany’s constitutional framework. The cornerstone of Hitler’s legal transformation was the Enabling Act of March 1933, which granted him the power to enact laws without parliamentary approval. This act effectively allowed Hitler to issue decrees independently of the Reichstag and presidency, creating the legal foundation for his dictatorship.

By July 1933, Hitler had used this power to pass a law making the Nazi Party the only legally permitted party in Germany, fulfilling his campaign promise to “sweep these thirty parties out of Germany”.

Trump’s Executive Action Approach

The Trump administration has pursued significant governmental changes primarily through executive action rather than constitutional amendments. Since taking office in January 2025, President Trump has issued numerous executive orders addressing federal bureaucracy, regulatory processes, and oversight mechanisms.

One of Trump’s most consequential executive actions has been a directive aimed at expediting his deregulatory agenda by circumventing traditional administrative procedures. On February 19, 2025, Trump signed an executive order requiring agencies to identify regulations for elimination or modification. Subsequently, he issued a memorandum declaring that such regulations could be repealed without the standard notice and comment period typically required by the Administrative Procedure Act, claiming the “good cause” exception3.

The memorandum states: “Retaining and enforcing facially unlawful regulations is clearly contrary to the public interest… Agencies thus have ample cause and the legal authority to immediately repeal unlawful regulations”. This approach has prompted legal challenges from advocacy groups concerned about the bypassing of public input processes.

Centralization of Power

Hitler’s Gleichschaltung Policy

Hitler implemented a systematic policy called Gleichschaltung (forced coordination), which represented an enforced alignment of all social, economic, political, and cultural institutions under Nazi control. This process aimed to eliminate pluralism in German society and create unified national control.

A critical legal instrument in this centralization was the Law for the Reconstruction of the Reich (Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reichs) enacted on January 30, 1934. This law abolished the sovereignty of German states, transferred state powers to the central Reich government, made state governments subordinate to the Reich government, and dissolved state parliaments. Article 4 of this law explicitly stated: “The Reich government can create new constitutional law”.

This centralization transformed Germany from a federal system to a centralized state under direct Nazi control, effectively ending Germany’s federal structure that had existed for centuries.

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Trump’s Bureaucratic Restructuring

The Trump administration has pursued centralization through executive branch reshaping and reduction of independent oversight. A significant executive order titled “Commencing the Reduction of the Federal Bureaucracy” issued on February 19, 2025, aims to reduce the size of the federal government to “increase accountability and efficiency”. This order calls for the elimination or severe reduction of several federal entities including the Presidio Trust, Inter-American Foundation, U.S. African Development Foundation, and U.S. Institute of Peace1.

In a more dramatic action directly affecting oversight, the Trump administration conducted a late-night purge of more than a dozen federal inspectors general on January 24, 2025. Inspectors general serve as independent watchdogs charged with identifying waste, fraud, and abuses of office at their respective agencies. One of the dismissed inspectors general, Mark Greenblatt, who was actually nominated by Trump during his first term, expressed being “stunned” by the dismissal.

The Inspector General of the Small Business Administration, Hannibal “Mike” Ware, who chairs the Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency, challenged the legality of these dismissals, arguing they were “not legally sufficient”.

Treatment of Political Opposition and Critics

Hitler’s Elimination of Opposition

Hitler’s regime systematically eliminated political opposition through both legal means and direct violence. The Night of the Long Knives in June 1934 represented a pivotal violent purge, during which Hitler ordered his elite SS guards to murder SA leadership and other perceived opponents6. During this purge, hundreds of Hitler’s political enemies were killed, including former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher, former Nazi Party leader Gregor Strasser, and Catholic professor Erich Klausener.

Additionally, the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service of April 1933 systematically removed political opponents from government positions. This law enabled the dismissal of civil servants deemed politically unreliable and those of “non-Aryan” descent, effectively purging government institutions of potential opposition.

Trump’s Actions Against Perceived Opponents

The Trump administration has taken unprecedented actions against institutions and individuals perceived as opponents, though through legal and administrative means rather than violence. In March 2025, President Trump issued a series of executive orders targeting prominent law firms that had represented his political opponents or had been involved in cases against him.

One such order issued on February 25, 2025, stripped security clearances from Peter Koski and all members, partners, and employees of Covington & Burling LLP who assisted former Special Counsel Jack Smith1. The order also directed federal agencies to terminate engagements with the firm “to the maximum extent possible”1. Similar orders targeted other law firms including Perkins Coie, Paul Weiss, and WilmerHale.

These actions prompted legal challenges, with Judge Beryl Howell noting that one such order “casts a chilling harm of blizzard proportion across the entire legal profession”.

Administrative Control and Civil Service

Hitler’s Civil Service Transformation

The Nazi regime fundamentally transformed Germany’s professional civil service through the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service enacted on April 7, 1933. This law established a “national” and “professional” civil service by dismissing certain groups of tenured civil servants, particularly those of Jewish descent and political opponents.

The law forced individuals of “non-Aryan” origin to retire and terminated members of the Communist Party or affiliated organizations. Its reach extended beyond the core civil service to professions such as teachers, professors, judges, lawyers, doctors, tax consultants, musicians, and notaries. This transformation ensured that the entire administrative apparatus would be staffed by loyal supporters of the Nazi regime.

Trump’s Civil Service and Regulatory Approach

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The Trump administration has pursued significant changes to federal civil service and regulatory processes. On January 31, 2025, President Trump launched what was described as a “Massive 10-to-1 Deregulation Initiative,” requiring agencies to identify at least 10 existing regulations to be repealed for every new regulation issued. This builds upon a similar 2-for-1 initiative from his first term.

Additionally, an executive order issued on January 31, 2025, established new limits on collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) negotiated during the final 30 days of a presidential administration1. These “lame-duck CBAs” were deemed “undemocratic and obstructive” as they could “impose inefficient policies on a new administration”.

Former intelligence officials have expressed concerns that Trump plans to overhaul intelligence agencies in a way that could lead to “an unprecedented level of politicization of intelligence”. These officials warn that Trump is likely to “replace people perceived as hostile to his political agenda with inexperienced loyalists”.

All-In-All

While operating in vastly different historical contexts and political systems, both Hitler and Trump have employed executive power to reshape governmental structures according to their visions. Hitler’s changes were more comprehensive and resulted in a complete transformation of Germany’s constitutional framework, eliminating all political opposition and establishing a totalitarian state. Trump’s actions, while significant, have occurred within the constraints of the American constitutional system with its separation of powers and checks and balances.

The historical comparison reveals that while certain tactical similarities exist in their approaches to expanding executive authority and centralizing power, the scale, context, and constitutional frameworks differ substantially. Hitler operated in a nascent democracy with weak institutions that he was able to fully dismantle, while Trump functions within a mature democratic system with established institutional resistance.

These documented governmental changes highlight the importance of robust democratic institutions, constitutional safeguards, and vigilant oversight in preserving democratic systems during periods of significant executive action. The ongoing legal challenges to several Trump administration actions demonstrate that institutional resistance mechanisms continue to function, unlike in 1930s Germany where such challenges were quickly eliminated.

Trump Administration and Hitler’s Germany: Open Your Eyes