The College Fix

Had compared Trump’s rise to Hitler’s during 2016 campaign

The Harvard professor who wrote in 2016 she “now understands” how Hitler came to power in Germany given Donald Trump’s then-ascension to GOP nominee has quit her gig as contributing Washington Post columnist due to its refusal to endorse Kamala Harris.

Danielle Allen, a professor of political philosophy, ethics, and public policy at the Graduate School of Education, quit the paper on October 25, The Crimson reports.

She had joined the paper in 2008 “to allay misinformation” about Barack Obama’s place of birth. She joined the staff of The Atlantic shortly after her departure from the WaPo.

In a letter, Allen (pictured) “slammed” the WaPo for bowing down to owner Jeff Bezos’ request not to offer a presidential endorsement, calling it a “shameful capitulation of misinformation.”

“In this world of misinformation and disinformation, we need bracingly clear examples of well-reasoned arguments,” Allen wrote. “To abdicate the responsibility to communicate a standard for good judgment on hard questions is to abandon this country’s culture to degradation at a point of extreme vulnerability.”

Allen added that while she was worried about disinformation during the ’08 campaign, “never did I imagine that our society would prove so weak against its force, and in face of one of its most persistent purveyors.”

MORE: ‘A core of moral equality’: Professors Allen speak on American founding

Bezos subsequently claimed papers’ endorsements have a “negligible impact on elections” and “create a perception of bias,” but Allen called this “laughable and condescending.”

Last year, Allen told The College Fix she did not regret comparing Trump’s rise to the presidency to that of Hitler.

“It is a simple truth that by watching our politics in the past decade, I have come to understand the politics of Weimar Germany and the 1930s,” she said. “I regret that conservatives take my view personally, but I believe it is my obligation to be honest about my view.”

During her tenure as co-chair of Harvard’s Presidential Task Force for Inclusion and Belonging, Allen announced plans to change the final line (“Till the stock of the Puritans die”) of the school’s 181-year-old alma mater “Fair Harvard.”

She also noted there would be a competition to create “a new musical variant” of the anthem “that could be performed as electronic, hip hop, or spoken word music.”

Ultimately, however, Harvardians didn’t care much about this “inclusion” initiative.

MORE: Professor assures Harvard she only compares Trump to Hitler outside of class

IMAGE: Harvard University

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