Heil Trump

Hitler and the Nazi Party didn’t storm into Germany. They inched their way in, and nobody even noticed until it was too late. The same thing could happen in America today. No? Do you remember that old saying about history repeating itself?

The following is a timeline checklist illustrating how the Third Reich came to be. It serves as a guide showing how to turn a country into a fanatical far-right steamroller aimed at consolidating all-encompassing power in the hands of the ruling class, race, or party. I’ve marked the items that the United States has already fully embraced.

The American Nazi playbook and current score

German/Hitler/Nazi action taken	America’s status
Give your movement a catchy 4-letter name.	Check Nazi vs. MAGA
Citizens are voluntarily moving toward the far right.	Check
Introduce the concept of territorial expansion to the public.	Check
Divide the citizens by vilifying certain classes, races, or political parties.	Check
If you don’t succeed in getting elected, stage a coup.	Check Hitler, however, served prison time for his Beer Hall Putsch.
Convince the world that immigration and immigrants are bad.	Check Italy and Romania swiftly embraced Germany’s ideology that whites were supreme, while France, Poland, and Switzerland refused Jews entry into their countries.
Condition the party members to accept the leader with unquestioning obedience and grant him complete control.	Check In Germany, it was referred to as Führerprinzip, the assertion that curing the country’s problems required vesting all power in one party or leader. In America, it’s known as Republican butt-kissing.
Purge political opponents and fill all government positions with individuals loyal to the party cause.	Check In Germany, this became known as the Night of Long Knives. In America, we call it the Trump Purge.
Demonize a segment of the population and ship them off to prisons under the guise of being criminals.	Check The segment of people Jews\|immigrants were sent to concentration camps\|Guantanamo Bay after being accused of being criminals.
Gain the trust of the nation’s wealthiest individuals and enable them to strengthen your power.	Check Germany’s oligarchy solidified Hitler’s control, thinking they could control him. America’s billionaires think the same and have bent over backward to accommodate Trump. In Hitler’s case, by the time they realized they could not control him, it was too late.
Influence the public’s perception of news vs propaganda.	Check Hitler established the Ministry of Propaganda to control the media; Trump labels media outlets that criticize him as fake news while openly employing self-described “alternative facts” himself.
Gain support from key media outlets.	Check Time named Hitler the Man of the Year in 1938 and later did the same for Trump in 2024. Several media outlets today willingly and openly promote the MAGA agenda.
Remove non-loyalists from government positions.	Check Hitler excluded Jews and political opponents through the Law for the Restoration of the Professional Civil Service, while Trump did the same through DOGE and the implementation of key aspects of Project 2025.
Consolidate power by declaring a state of “emergency” to achieve dictator-like control.	Check When a fire ravaged the German parliament in February 1933, Hitler claimed that the nation was confronting a communist conspiracy. He exploited this situation to justify an ‘Enabling Act,’ which granted him dictatorial powers. In a blatantly illegal but unchallenged move, Trump used the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 and the 1807 Insurrection Act to broaden his power and allow for the execution of unchecked Executive Orders.
Push for a shift from democracy to rule by decree.	Check Germany’s Enabling Act of 1933 allowed Hitler to enact laws without parliamentary consent. Trump issued hundreds of executive orders to dismantle the government and punish his “enemies” within his first 180 days of office.
Withdraw from international agreements and treaties to isolate the nation from others.	Check One of Hitler’s initial actions was to withdraw Germany from the Treaty of Versailles, positioning the country as a world-class power that would not bow to anyone. Trump withdrew America from key treaties and global organizations and denounced organizations such as NATO.
Replace judges who do not support the leader’s principles.	Check Hitler’s Restoration of the Professional Civil Service removed judges who did not comply with Nazi principles. Trump’s undemocratic war against the legal system has been fully supported by his peers including many Republican members of Congress.
Promote the superiority and dominance of the white “master” race.”	Check Hitler promoted Aryan men and degraded Jews, while Trump championed a massive anti-DEI movement and denigrated immigrants and foreigners.
Condition children to follow the party’s principles.	Check Hitler forced teachers to teach from textbooks that advanced Nazi principles. Trump’s anti-woke movement contributed to the banning of over 10,000 books while dismantling the Department of Education and urging states to adopt textbooks that aligned with MAGA far-right principles.
Evade assassination attempts, then declare your survival as divine Providence.	Check Hitler avoided gas attacks, bombings, and at least 18 assassination attempts, then asserted he was chosen by Providence. Trump survived several assassination attempts and claimed he was protected by God.
Lie, lie, lie.	Both leaders demonstrated remarkable talent in projecting their statements with little regard for whether they were true or false. In fact, they were so good at this that their followers believed them despite clear evidence they were lying.
Proclaim yourself a Christian, then spread hatred and other clearly non-Christian attitudes.	Hitler described himself as a Christian. Trump describes himself as a Christian (Presbyterian). Both spew hatred, lies, and un-Christian-like contempt for others.
Promotes threats of civil war in your country to coerce opponents to concede.	Pending The Weimar Republic had to choose between taking strong measures to stop Hitler and facing the prospect of civil war. They chose the former. What they discovered—as the Western powers later did—was that the more they appeased Hitler, the more powerless they became to prevent him from taking even bolder steps.
Stimulate the economy by adopting a wartime footing.	Declare your party as the only “legal” party in the country.
Declare your party the only “legal” party in the country.	Pending In 1934, the Nazi Party was declared the only legal political party in Germany.
Members of the military try to assassinate their leader.	Pending In 1944, a group of German officers tried to assassinate Hitler.