Thread by @SkinnerPm

The culture wars were fought in the decaying Weimar in the late 1920’s EXACTLY as the grifters & bobble heads are doing today. Reading ‘The Coming of the Third Reich’ by Richard Evans is to read what’s happening right now. I’m not being dramatic or alarmist. It’s the same path

He focuses on the acceptance of violence in politics. First in rhetoric & then in physical violence & murder in the days after the revolution that ended Wilhelmine Germany. Sound familiar? Replaced by an old man uninterested & opposed in democratic institutions. Sound familiar?

The endless conspiracy theories of being stabbed in the back by the establishment (the deep state), calling political opponents ‘traitors’. Blaming the Jews and ‘others’. A mythical past that must be returned to by the pure & Patriots. Sound familiar?

The Germans didn’t have to be that way. We don’t have to be this way. None of that was inevitable. None of this is inevitable. Anyway, back to work tomorrow.

The relentless persecution complex is the same then as now. Their racist fear mongering about jazz is our racist fear mongering about rap. Their insane mythology of ‘the heartland’ & ‘real’ Germans is our, well, the same insane mythology of ‘the heartland’ & ‘real’ Americans.

Their Big Lie is our Big Lie. Change is evil and The Others are to blame. There is nothing good in modernity and The Others are to blame. Violence is not only acceptable, it’s required. Endless persecution. Endless inferiority complex despite having most of the power then & now.

Their hyper politicization of every aspect of daily life is our hyper politicization of every aspect of daily life. Their belief that everything is a war is our belief that everything is a war. Their political leaders’ acceptance of racism and anti-Semitism is ours as well.

interesting point made in this book is that during the Weimar, the judiciary, police, & prosecutors viewed ‘nationalism’ as a mitigating factor in violent crimes: that the Law at every level ‘undermined the legitimacy of the republic through their bias in favor of its enemies’

Our ‘talking points’ and brain-dead violent-themed slogans were Hitler’s obsession. This is from Mein Kampf... ‘very few points & must harp on these in slogans until the last member of the public understands what you want him to understand by your slogans.’ ..sound familiar?

Again and again, it’s the mainstreaming of extremist racism and anti-semitism and misogyny and anti immigrant, what once wasn’t uttered on a public street is now said in speeches in the US Capitol. The normalization of violence and the ‘other-inn’ of everyone but your base...

None of this is accidental. And none of this is inevitable.

The party’s platform was to end non-German immigration. Sound familiar?
The party made mandatory the most pathetic over-the-top praise of their leader and any hint of merely slight praise (no one could actually criticize him) led to censure and removal. Sound familiar?

And again and again, the acceptance and then the urging and then the expectation of violence in politics. And since everything is politics, and everything is a war, well then...sound familiar?

It goes on & on: they had a ‘hall protection group’ in distinctive attire at their angry rallies. They then roamed the streets looking for & causing fights. They called on a ‘March on the capital’ to ‘take back their country’ from the ‘November traitors.’ Sound familiar?

They were coddled by law enforcement and the judicial system because they wrapped themselves in patriotism and hate, and so armed groups in the street became normal politics. And then violence became normal politics. Sound familiar?

They were hyper masculine & viewed feminism with disdain & then violence. They wanted to be the uber or Alpha male & viewed political compromise as weakness. They wanted to use democracy to destroy democracy. They had endless lists of enemies & conspiracies. Sound familiar?

To think I’ve not mentioned any American party or person. I’ve listed facts from ‘The Coming of the Third Reich’ & asked if these facts sound familiar. If the familiarities make you uncomfortable, then ask yourself why. And then think of those for whom such familiarities terrify