State of Deception: The Power of MAGA Propaganda
There is an obvious parallel between 1933 German propaganda and the GOP's propaganda from the last 60 years.
Rich and powerful people (mostly men) have taken advantage of citizens who are not interested or are not paying attention since time immortal. The United States, seemingly a unique experiment in government-by-the-people has not been immune to their machinations, and finally, after close to sixty years of scheming and expert use of propaganda, the end of American Democracy might very well be upon us.
In an historical context, the fact that nearly half of American voters are rooting for the ultra-rich oligarchs to succeed is sadly, not surprising. If you talk to these MAGA voters, they genuinely believe that the GOP and Donald Trump especially, will make their lives better: everything will be cheaper, all the illegal immigrants will be deported, and jobs will pay more and be more plentiful. They believe this, in spite of the evidence that the GOP’s plans will absolutely make their lives worse. Trump’s tariffs, corporate tax cuts and mass deportation plans will decimate the economy while enriching the corporations and the billionaires at the expense of everyday Americans.
The reason millions believe this malarky is because the right started using time-tested propaganda techniques decades ago. It was a slow burn for years through the Nixon and Reagan eras because they didn’t have the communication networks to reach a mass audience. Then Rush Limbaugh found AM talk radio and the echo chamber was born. The advent of the Internet in the 90s and the massive spread of social media in the 2000s was like pouring gasoline onto a propaganda fire.
In the remainder of this article, we’ll look at the GOP’s use of lies and propaganda in the context of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum’s description of Hitler’s Nationalist Party’s use of propaganda to eliminate democracy and take over the German government in 1933. The propaganda parallels are obvious and while Trump has not yet succeeded in taking over the U.S. Government, his intentions are stark and his opportunity begins anew when he is inaugurated on Jan 20, 2025.
The Weapons of Dictatorship: Terror and Propaganda
“I need to have the kind of generals that Hitler had.”
— President Donald J. Trump to Chief of Staff John Kelly
Soon after becoming chancellor, Hitler used the power of the state to crack down on political opponents. He primarily targeted those on the left. To frighten middle-class Germans, Nazi propagandists spread rumors of an impending Communist plot to seize power. They even blamed an arsonist’s burning of the German parliament building on Communists.
Soon after his inauguration, look for Trump to use the power of the state to crack down on political opponents. He is installing unqualified, but slavishly loyal henchmen to lead key agencies including the Department of Justice (DOJ), the FBI, and the intelligence community (DNI). They will do whatever they are told because it’s the only way for them to keep their jobs and the immense power that goes with them.
Trump will target those on the left. To frighten middle-class Americans, GOP propagandists already spread lies of a Democrat plot to import illegal immigrants who will vote for Democrats so they can seize permanent power and these fear tactics will ramp up once Trump has the presidential pulpit.
As a result, the government suspended basic civil rights for all German citizens, including rights such as freedom of expression, press, and assembly. Police and Nazi paramilitary units arrested Communists and Social Democrats. In 1933, they detained as many as 100,000 Germans without trial. Nazi thugs publicly humiliated, tortured, and killed people they deemed to be their enemies.
The Trump government will likewise use the corrupted federal courts to suspend basic civil rights for all American citizens, just as they already have for women (abortion) and LGBTQ+ (bathroom laws, access to health care). The right to assemble will be curtailed. Protests will be put down with National Guard troops under the guise of “safety.” Dissenters, especially elected public officials, will face lawsuits, arrest and prison time at the hands of Trump’s weaponized DOJ.
“We agree on one thing, he’s willing to go to jail. I’m willing to put him in jail.”
— Border Czar Tom Homan to Denver Mayor Mike Johnston who said Denverites would resist Trump’s troops who attempt to deport immigrants in his town.
Police in right-wing states will arrest Democrats, Black resisters and legal immigrants. They will be detained for as long as possible without trial. Groper thugs and homegrown militias like the Proud Boys will become even more emboldened and will publicly humiliate, torture, and potentially even kill people they deem to be their enemies.
In less than six months, the Hitler government destroyed German democracy. It established concentration camps—initially for political opponents—and introduced anti-Jewish laws and policies. The regime either shut down other political parties or forced them to dissolve themselves. By July 1933, Germany had become a one-party Nazi state.
Although the Hitler government destroyed German democracy in less than six months, it will likely take Trump longer than that. Make no mistake, it is absolutely his and his billionaire oligarch funders’ objective. Ideally for Trump, he’ll (somehow) be president for life.
“Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore."
— Donald Trump, July 26, 2024
Trump is building concentration camps, initially for illegal immigrants but once built, it will be easy to round up other enemies and get them out of the public eye in the camps. He’ll turn neighbors and family members against one another to curry favor and privilege.
“The real greatest resource is all of you, because you have all those eyes and you see what’s happening. People move into a house a block down the road, you know who’s going in. You can see and you report them to the local police.”
— Donald Trump, Nov. 25, 2014
His MAGA cronies in the House and Senate will introduce anti-immigrant and unconstitutional laws and Trump will enact policies through Executive Orders. The right-wing Supreme Court has already granted Trump near-unlimited presidential authority to violate the law just as long as he uses government resources as part of “official acts” to do so. They will find a way to justify making his unconstitutional decisions constitutional.
Finally, the regime will try to shut down or neuter the Democratic political party or force it to dissolve itself. In time, the United States will become a one-party MAGA state.
Propaganda
Nazi propaganda went hand-in-hand with violence. Nazi propagandists considered terror to be a form of propaganda. Terror could also be used to compel people to change their behavior. The threat of violence or imprisonment in a concentration camp served to intimidate would-be dissidents.1
MAGA propaganda likewise goes hand-in-hand with violence. The threat of violence at the hands of police or armed citizen militias, authorized by the federal courts including the Supreme Court, will frighten people into changing their behavior. Even before Trump takes office many people are obeying in advance in a proactive attempt to not be targeted.
Nazi propagandists did not rely on threats alone. They aimed to win over millions of Germans who had not voted for the Nazi Party with promises of a better future. Nazi propaganda played on the public’s hopes, fears, and prejudices. … The Nazis rearmed the military, while at the same time pledging to uphold peace. Nazi authorities cracked down on what they considered social and political deviance. They justified those measures as necessary to reestablishing law and order.
Like the Nazis, the GOP plays on the public’s hopes, fears, and especially their prejudices. Trump repeatedly claims that he is the “peace president.” What he really means is that he’ll stay out of the way of Russia’s Putin, China’s Xi and North Korea’s Kim as they pursue their expansionist wars while he profits off them, but the propaganda ignores and disputes these truths with lies.
Likewise, Trump’s administration will crack down on “social and political deviance,” just like the Nazis did. He has spent years targeting the usual vulnerable segments of America. Propagandists need a weak target to blame for society’s ills. Their current target is transgender individuals, but it also includes other LGBTQ+ folks as well as undocumented and legal immigrants such as the Haitians in Springfield, IL who they claimed were eating people’s pets.
Public Response to the Takeover of Power
Freedom of the press, expression in general, freedom of conscience, personal dignity, intellectual freedom, etc., all the liberal fundamental rights have now been eliminated, without even a single expression of outrage.
—Robert Musil, Austrian writer, Berlin, March 1933
Many Germans welcomed the Nazi rise to power and cheered the return of strong central leadership. They applauded the crackdown on the Communist and Social Democratic parties.
Nazi propagandists increased the regime’s popularity. They played on the public’s hopes, fears, and prejudices. At the same time, they painted a picture of united Germany. According to the Nazis, Hitler would restore German greatness.
All MAGAs and many GOP and independent voters welcome Trump’s second rise to power. They applaud the crackdown on “illegal immigrants” and transgender people and the bans on women’s right to abortions.
The last line above bears repeating: “According to the Nazis, Hitler would restore German greatness.” Trump is nothing if not unoriginal.
The Cult
Starting in January 1933, Nazi propaganda transformed Hitler from a party leader into the personification of the new German nation. Nazi propagandists posted Hitler’s likeness everywhere. They carefully cultivated his public image to radiate strength and a minded devotion to Germany. They stressed that Hitler had brought about stability, created jobs, and restored German self-confidence.
At the same time, the government rushed any politcal dissent.
This has been happening with Trump and his MAGA followers since his first term. No amount of logic can dissuade cult followers from their belief system that their Dear Leader is infallible. MAGA influencers on social media, especially X (formerly Twitter) repeatedly lie and then amplify the lies about all the wonderful things that Trump has accomplished for America. Even though they are untrue, the cultists mindlessly lap it up because that’s what cultists do.
Media Control
Within months of Hitler becoming chancellor, his regime destroyed the country’s free press. It shut down hundreds of opposition newspapers. The propaganda ministry issued daily orders dictating what could be published. Oversight of radio, film, newsreels, theater, and music likewise fell under its rule.
Trump cannot shut down the press, at least not immediately, but he can co-opt it. Billionaire oligarchs have taken over most of the mainstream media, including news sites such as the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times as well as cable and broadcast TV stations. Right-wing media dominates cable with Fox News, OAN and Newsmax leading the way. The LA Times’ and the Washington Post’s ownership decisions to overrule their editorial staff and to not endorse anyone (i.e., not endorse Kamala Harris) was the death blow to mainstream news media’s credibility. The free press is no longer free.
Beginning in the 1920s, radio emerged as a worldwide sensation. For the first time, people could listen to news, current events, and entertainment in the privacy of their homes. The Nazis quickly recognized the power of this new medium. Goebbels declared that radio would serve as an intermediary between the German government and the people.
Social media like X, Facebook, Instagram and so on are today’s version of radio. The GOP was smart enough to recognize this and to take advantage of it long before the Democrats who are still flailing about trying to play catch-up. Elon Musk’s takeover of the dominate platform, Twitter and his emergence as a leading funder and proponent of Trump and MAGA idealogy likely doomed Harris’s campaign and all but locked in MAGA control of social media for years to come. Alternatives such as Bluesky are taking root, but you can expect the Trump administration to do everything it can to shut it down or neuter it with lawsuits, regulations, or even trumped-up criminal charges against its founders.
What Next?
Recognizing and acknowledging you have a problem is the first necessary step to curing the problem. America definitely has a problem and sadly there is no quick fix.
We will not change seven million voters’ minds through logic or appeals to reason. Nevertheless, we need to call out the lies, the illegalities, and the dangers whenever we see them. We need a better strategy for reaching the half of the country that is disaffected and afraid of the future, even if their fears are manufactured by the rightwing propaganda machine.
We need messaging systems that rival the right’s X and cable outlets. We need dynamic candidates bottom to top with vision and a way to deliver a unified message that cuts through the noise and the lies. We need to find a way to make people’s lives better and to show them who’s doing it for them (it’s not Trump or MAGA elites).
In other words, we have a lot of work to do, assuming we can keep Democracy intact for the next few years. Our great nation has not just survived but has flourished for almost 250 years.
Personally, I’m not willing to let a grifting asshole narcissist like Trump destroy it.
Are you?
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Text in block quotes are taken from the USHMM’s educational page on how the Nazi’s used propaganda to take over the German government in 1933.