No, the Atlantic didn't publish a story with headline saying Trump is Hitler | Fact check
The claim: Image shows headline from The Atlantic saying ‘Trump is literally Hitler’
An Oct. 22 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows what appears to be an article published by The Atlantic about former President Donald Trump.
“Trump Is Literally Hitler,” reads the purported headline.
A summary under the headline reads, "Donald J. Trump is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler."
Another version of the claim was liked more than 250 times on Instagram before it was deleted. Others, including a version posted by Elon Musk, spread widely on X, formerly Twitter.
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Our rating: Altered
The image is fabricated. The Atlantic said the headline is an altered version of an Oct. 22 article titled “Trump: ‘I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had.’” The summary is also altered.
Trump made Hitler comment during private conversation, outlet reported
No such article appears on The Atlantic's website. Anna Bross, a spokesperson for The Atlantic, told USA TODAY the image is “completely fabricated.”
The outlet said as much in a public statement addressing the social media claims. It said the circulating image was an altered version of an Oct. 22 article with the headline, "Trump: 'I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had.'"
An archived version of the article saved less than 10 minutes after its initial publication showed the same headline. The timestamp and byline of the genuine article match those in the altered image in the social media posts.
The summary in the posts is also fabricated. The headline summary of the genuine Atlantic article states, "The Republican nominee’s preoccupation with dictators, and his disdain for the American military, is deepening."
The article asserts that Trump, according to two unnamed sources, once said, "I need the kind of generals that Hitler had" in a private conversation in the White House during his presidency.
Trump spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer said the claim was “absolutely false,” the outlet reported.
The Atlantic also published an article titled, "Trump Is Speaking Like Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini" on Oct. 18.
Fact check: Fabricated image shows Trump saying Obama's criticism should be illegal
USA TODAY has debunked an array of fabricated images of news stories, including ones purporting to show a headline from The Atlantic saying Vice President Kamala Harris “may need to steal an election,” a Fox News article about Trump donating $1,300 to hurricane relief and an Israeli newspaper headline calling “genocide” protests antisemitic.
USA TODAY reached out to the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Our fact-check sources:
Anna Bross, Oct. 23, Email exchange with USA TODAY
The Atlantic, Oct. 23, The Atlantic Did Not Publish an Article With the Headline “Trump Is Literally Hitler”
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fabricated image shows headline comparing Trump, Hitler | Fact check