What's in a name?

As regularly as the tide, some right-wing aspiring genius makes the amazing discovery that Nazi is short for National Socialism. Aha! The Nazis were actually socialists!

Did you know that the official name of the North Korean state is the Democratic People's Republic of Korea? Aha! North Korea is a democracy!

 

In fact, the major financial backers of the Nazi party during its rise to power were Germany's leading industrialist and bankers. (Who obviously were not Jewish.) The other two major parties in Germany throughout the period when the Nazis were contesting elections were the Communists and the Social Democrats. In other words, you had communists, socialists, and Nazis. When Hitler took power, he outlawed the Communist party and murdered its leaders. He imprisoned much of the Social Democratic leadership and eventually abolished the party, leaving only the Nazi party. He outlawed collective bargaining and eliminated meaningful labor unions. His political strategy, which he stated overtly, was to create an alliance with existing powerful institutions, specifically capitalists and the army. The Nazi government purchased its armaments, and the Zyklon B gas used to murder the Jews of Europe and other prisoners, from capitalist corporations. It also supplied its corporate partners with slave labor.

There were indeed some members of the party who took the word "socialist" in the name seriously, but Hitler would have none of it. He either persuaded them to change their views, or he purged them. And I must point out that 1927 was six years before the Nazis took power, and Hitler said all sorts of things he didn't mean for short term tactical purposes throughout his career. This is not a matter that historians dispute or even consider. The Nazi regime was not in any way socialist, it was in fact the exact opposite.

And while we're on the subject of what isn't true, no, Trump did not say, referring to the Charlottesville Neo-Nazi demonstration, "There were very fine people on both sides, & I'm not talking about the Neo-nazis and white supremacists because they should be condemned totally," and the fact check to which you referred me, which you evidently did not read, says precisely that he did not. He said, "There were very fine people on both sides," period, full stop. Only later, in a separate statement, after badgering from reporters, did he condemn Neo-nazis and white supremacists. However,  since 100% of the people on one side were Neo-Nazis and white supremacists, this doesn't seem very sincere. I don't publish comments that are factually untrue.