No, The Atlantic did not publish headline saying 'Trump is literally Hitler'

What is the claim?

A screenshot viral on social media purports to show an article published by The Atlantic, with the headline "Trump is literally Hitler." The purported article is credited to Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic and appears to have been published on October 22, 2024. The strap under the headline reads, "Donald J. Trump is the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler." 

X owner Elon Musk also shared the post with the image and captioned it, "They are literally foaming at the mouth 😂." In addition, an Instagram user shared the image and wrote, "Today, The Atlantic published an article titled, "Trump is Literally Hitler." You do not hate the media enough."  

Archives of the posts can be seen here, here, and here. 

 
Screenshots of viral social media posts. (Source: X/Instagram/Modified by Logically Facts)

The post is being shared ahead of the upcoming U.S. presidential election, which Trump is the Republican nominee for. The elections are scheduled to take place on November 5.

However, we found that the post is a fabricated screenshot, which was originally posted as satire. The Atlantic did not publish any such article.

What are the facts?

We searched The Atlantic's website and social media accounts (archived here and here) and found no such article published on or before October 22, 2024. 

Further, we found that the fake screenshot was first shared on X (formerly Twitter) (archived here) by an account named 'ib' on October 22. In the comments  section, the account clarified that it was satire (archived here) and wrote, "It's satire, but The Atlantic can only be lampooned this way because they are deranged." In another reply on X, the account again stated that it was an attempt at satire. (archived here)

 
Screenshot of the X user's clarification, stating that the image was meant as satire. (Source: X/Screenshot)

Additionally, we found that on October 22, The Atlantic published an article about Trump written by Goldberg, headlined "Trump: 'I Need the Kind of Generals That Hitler Had.'" The headline was based on a statement allegedly made by Trump in a private conversation in the White House. 

While the story did claim that Trump's behavior is similar to that of Hitler and other dictators ("...I’m most interested in his evident desire to wield military power, and power over the military, in the manner of Hitler and other dictators"), it did not draw a direct comparison or make statements of the kind as seen in the viral image. 

As both the fake image and the genuine article had the same date and time of publication (October 22, 2024, 3.38 p.m. ET), it is likely that this is what was used to create the viral screenshot.

Screenshot of The Atlantic's article about Trump from October 22. (Source: The Atlantic/Screenshot)

On October 18, The Atlantic published an article by staff writer Anne Applebaum titled "Trump Is Speaking Like Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini." The article focused on Trump and his political communication style.

Logically Facts has contacted The Atlantic for a comment on the viral image. This fact-check will be updated if and when we receive a response.

Furthermore, some fake images purporting to be screenshots of articles published by The Atlantic have gone viral recently. Logically Facts has fact-checked them here and here.

The verdict

The viral image, purporting to be a screenshot of an article published by The Atlantic, headlined "Trump is literally Hitler," is fake. It was created as satire but has since been shared on social media without that context.