Now, most students of the early years of Nazi run Germany can see the truth of it all. Meaning how the far right wing of American political life took ideas from that horrific playbook. Reagan and co. decided to use blacks and browns living in our ghettos as the scourge of society. You know the infamous Welfare Queen that his campaign’s television commercials threw at us. Hitler had his own scourge, that being the Jews. Only difference was that the Nazis drove Jews into ghettos while Reagan and co. already had their ghettos filled with their scourge. Just one big game of Copycat.
When Reagan ran for President in 1980 his campaign slogan was Make America Great Again. Sound familiar? Trump’s handlers just reinvented the political wheel to propagandize his minions. He won in ’16, not so much because of his fake populism. Honestly, if the Democrats would have run Donald Duck they would have defeated this obvious medicine man. But, let’s move on children:
In Clay Risen’s new book Red Scare he covers how the political/cultural climate was in post WW2 America. Forgetting how the Soviet Union actually won that war ( with close to 30 million dead) the right wing in America and the UK made the Soviets into the new monster, with Stalin ( Justifiably) as the new Hitler. Communism became so deadly that one of our most popular films at the time was Don Siegel’s 1956 Invasion of the Body Snatchers. Those mysterious Pods hit the ground and turned people into a zombie like state, with no empathy or emotions. Just like the Commies, who people like Sen. Joseph McCarthy saw just about everywhere, especially in our government and our schools and libraries. Soon, there were Congressional and not so Congressional hearings grilling anyone suspected of being a ‘ Fellow traveler’. Mind you that the Communist Party was NOT illegal at that time. No matter, just label anyone who had any experience with Communism as a traitor. Lives and families and livelihoods were destroyed by this insanity. Soon after the House Un-American Activities Committee ( HUAC) hearings, along with the scores of unofficial hearings, loyalty oaths were instilled all over: Government agencies, schools, libraries, workplaces.. you name it and they were prominent.
What the new MAGA movement is doing right now, as I write, is a Copycat of what went on 70 years ago. Books are banned from schools and libraries and being gay or transgender is the new ‘ Thought crime’. Teachers are told, NOT advised, to be careful on what they teach. My governor, I call him Capt. Ron, actually said a year or two ago that slavery gave some the opportunity to ‘ Learn skills’. God forbid a teacher gives a lesson on the actual history of the forced slavery of black and brown people grabbed and shipped to America. One state, Texas, actually tried to place slavery in its school curriculum as ‘ Involuntary relocation’. The Trump regime showed what they can do with using ICE to round up, imprison and deport the undocumented out of our country. They used their weight in Congress to begin the process of making protest a crime.. wait and see gang. Loyalty oaths are around the corner folks.
PA Farruggio
May, 2025