Hannah Arendt's famous, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil was published in 1963. Commandant of Auschwitz : The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess was published in 1956. Hoess reported conversations he had with Eichmann, who, Hoess says, "showed that he was completely obsessed with the idea of destroying every single Jew that he could lay his hands on." Without pity and in cold blood," Eichmann insisted, "We must complete this extermination as rapidly as possible." 

Eichmann was deeply passionate about slaughtering Jews. The killing of Jews was his heart's desire. He devoted his entire life to fulfilling this aspiration, which was profoundly meaningful to him.

Of course, he wouldn't reveal what he actually thought and felt--at a trial in which his life was at stake. He pulled the wool over Arendt's eyes.

I followed the controversary over Daniel Goldhagen's Hitler's Willing Executioners (published in 1996) closely. At a conference I attended in which serious Holocaust scholars participated, there was much talk about "the hated Goldhagen." Ostensibly, this was something about his theories that the scholars didn't like.

Eventually, it became evident that it was Goldhagen's use of the word WILLING that offended people. They could tolerate the idea that millions of Jews were killed, but somehow could not face the fact that millions of Germans WANTED to kill Jews.

Liberal delusions rule the universe. We have seen this again in contemporary life. Nearly every day for the past four years, Donald Trump makes a statement or engages in behaviors that are bizarre, unfeeling, and/or violent. We learn about corrupt actions and and sexually inappropriate behavior. He "makes up things" (or, as the pundits say, "lies") continually.

Yet each day for the past four years--tell me if I'm wrong--Newscasters say something along the lines of, "It can't get any worse than this." Or: "This is as low as it can possibly go."

Reminds me of my Uncle Sam when he first saw a hippie chick take her clothes off and take a dip in his backyard swimming pool: "I can't believe it. I can't believe it."