Germans are nervous about us

[SFVikeFan]

Have a lot of friends from Germany from various regions, beliefs, politics and they’re shocked what’s going on here.  As a guy who studied quite a bit of Nazi history at 2 German universities, speak it fluently and used to live in Nuernberg I can assure you of 6 fun facts of Nazi history and how fascism erupted there:


1) The white victim playing card was literally Hitler’s message and how he rose to power, his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is the ultimate Us Poor White Guy text ever written and obviously a favorite for white supremacists ... the blaming of Jews was just the other side of the coin for why white guys had it tough.  The hey we are just poor white guys defending our freedoms was the core theme for “defending” themselves from Jews and the Polish, then later the Allies and to justify violence against civilians, women, children 

2) Strong slogans of nationalism (literally like MAGA) coupled with devout patriotism especially using the military’s image and the flag was fundamental in their messages to the public by Propaganda Minister Goebbels

3) Attacks on the media (Luegenpresse = Lying Press = fake news) actually started shortly after WWI when many Germans began to accuse the Jews of owning all the media. That gave Nazis all the kerosene they needed when critized by the media:  the papers and radio programs are all owned by Jews anyway so of course they’re lying about the Nazis being bad

4) Attacks on election credibility - Nazis also had questioned the credibility of the previous elections in 31 and 32, so in 33 they deployed Hermann Goering and 50,000 SS troops to “oversee” the election.  Nazis only won 43% of the last vote in 1933 when they needed a full majority to assume power .... so they persuaded (ha) another party to absorb into their party, then passed legislation to give Hitler dictatorial powers and didn’t see another election until 1946.

5) In 1937 there was a famous Nazi propaganda anti-Semitic artwork created named “Der Ewige Jude” or “The Eternal Jew” that was turned into a film of the same name, the classic long nose profile with his hand out collecting some gold coins ... Nazis were constantly accusing Jews of collecting all kinds of freebies with the tax dollars of Germans

6)  Hitler’s politics focused on using a platform of total lies to advance his own interests, and his propaganda was extremely succesful in convincing millions they were all victims too and to defend themselves.  In Mein Kampf he called his method “the big lie”.  Basically he said younhave to be passionate, be forceful, repeat it loud and keep repeating it often and anyone who rejects it will be accused of being the liar instead.  Never admit the truth. 

Some people say history has a way of repeating itself ....

50 years from now history books will not just label the Trump era as merely a disaster, but we just barely dodged losing our democratic republic to a fascist wannabe dictator who damn near pulled it off.

[Guest]

My daughter lives there, she married a German, and works for an international engineering firm.  She has shared many stories of the questions people ask about what is going on here, in both personal and business.  We kind of have lost that trust and  aura of being a good place.

[Guest]

@SFVikeFan said:
Have a lot of friends from Germany from various regions, beliefs, politics and they’re shocked what’s going on here.  As a guy who studied quite a bit of Nazi history at 2 German universities, speak it fluently and used to live in Nuernberg I can assure you of 6 fun facts of Nazi history and how fascism erupted there:


1) The white victim playing card was literally Hitler’s message and how he rose to power, his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is the ultimate Us Poor White Guy text ever written and obviously a favorite for white supremacists ... the blaming of Jews was just the other side of the coin for why white guys had it tough.  The hey we are just poor white guys defending our freedoms was the core theme for “defending” themselves from Jews and the Polish, then later the Allies and to justify violence against civilians, women, children 

2) Strong slogans of nationalism (literally like MAGA) coupled with devout patriotism especially using the military’s image and the flag was fundamental in their messages to the public by Propaganda Minister Goebbels

3) Attacks on the media (Luegenpresse = Lying Press = fake news) actually started shortly after WWI when many Germans began to accuse the Jews of owning all the media. That gave Nazis all the kerosene they needed when critized by the media:  the papers and radio programs are all owned by Jews anyway so of course they’re lying about the Nazis being bad

4) Attacks on election credibility - Nazis also had questioned the credibility of the previous elections in 31 and 32, so in 33 they deployed Hermann Goering and 50,000 SS troops to “oversee” the election.  Nazis only won 43% of the last vote in 1933 when they needed a full majority to assume power .... so they persuaded (ha) another party to absorb into their party, then passed legislation to give Hitler dictatorial powers and didn’t see another election until 1946.

5) In 1937 there was a famous Nazi propaganda anti-Semitic artwork created named “Der Ewige Jude” or “The Eternal Jew” that was turned into a film of the same name, the classic long nose profile with his hand out collecting some gold coins ... Nazis were constantly accusing Jews of collecting all kinds of freebies with the tax dollars of Germans

6)  Hitler’s politics focused on using a platform of total lies to advance his own interests, and his propaganda was extremely succesful in convincing millions they were all victims too and to defend themselves.  In Mein Kampf he called his method “the big lie”.  Basically he said younhave to be passionate, be forceful, repeat it loud and keep repeating it often and anyone who rejects it will be accused of being the liar instead.  Never admit the truth. 

Some people say history has a way of repeating itself ....

50 years from now history books will not just label the Trump era as merely a disaster, but we just barely dodged losing our democratic republic to a fascist wannabe dictator who damn near pulled it off.

Many of us were saying this 4 years ago. No, Trump is not Hitler, but it's shocking how effectively he used his game plan without any of his followers knowing, or caring. Just replace the word "Jews" with "Liberals" and see how this reads. 

[Guest]

Most of Hitler's playbook can be found in "personality cult" approaches throughout political history.  My poli-sci professor was able to relate them to many successful campaigns, including Obama's (though he related that closer to the Kennedy media coddling approach).

I think the most frightening thing about the Trumplestilskin experience has less to do with him and more to do with the packs of rabid morons that interpreted everything he said as some confirmation of their whacko agenda.  I'm not shy about blaming the narcissist shithead, but I can't begin to believe that he knew how desperately those idiots would cling to his rhetoric.

That said, he could have utterly condemned them and/or used even a tiny amount of reason to get them on a less horrible path...and he chose not to.

One thing I find fascinating about him is that if you take certain things he says, and backdate them a few months, he'd likely have been reelected.  The speech about "no violence from his supporters" would have had a huge impact in, say, summer...giving him a tiny inkling of humanity.  But, he blew that and many other opportunities to look like something other than the babbling asshat he is.

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:

@SFVikeFan said:
Have a lot of friends from Germany from various regions, beliefs, politics and they’re shocked what’s going on here.  As a guy who studied quite a bit of Nazi history at 2 German universities, speak it fluently and used to live in Nuernberg I can assure you of 6 fun facts of Nazi history and how fascism erupted there:


1) The white victim playing card was literally Hitler’s message and how he rose to power, his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is the ultimate Us Poor White Guy text ever written and obviously a favorite for white supremacists ... the blaming of Jews was just the other side of the coin for why white guys had it tough.  The hey we are just poor white guys defending our freedoms was the core theme for “defending” themselves from Jews and the Polish, then later the Allies and to justify violence against civilians, women, children 

2) Strong slogans of nationalism (literally like MAGA) coupled with devout patriotism especially using the military’s image and the flag was fundamental in their messages to the public by Propaganda Minister Goebbels

3) Attacks on the media (Luegenpresse = Lying Press = fake news) actually started shortly after WWI when many Germans began to accuse the Jews of owning all the media. That gave Nazis all the kerosene they needed when critized by the media:  the papers and radio programs are all owned by Jews anyway so of course they’re lying about the Nazis being bad

4) Attacks on election credibility - Nazis also had questioned the credibility of the previous elections in 31 and 32, so in 33 they deployed Hermann Goering and 50,000 SS troops to “oversee” the election.  Nazis only won 43% of the last vote in 1933 when they needed a full majority to assume power .... so they persuaded (ha) another party to absorb into their party, then passed legislation to give Hitler dictatorial powers and didn’t see another election until 1946.

5) In 1937 there was a famous Nazi propaganda anti-Semitic artwork created named “Der Ewige Jude” or “The Eternal Jew” that was turned into a film of the same name, the classic long nose profile with his hand out collecting some gold coins ... Nazis were constantly accusing Jews of collecting all kinds of freebies with the tax dollars of Germans

6)  Hitler’s politics focused on using a platform of total lies to advance his own interests, and his propaganda was extremely succesful in convincing millions they were all victims too and to defend themselves.  In Mein Kampf he called his method “the big lie”.  Basically he said younhave to be passionate, be forceful, repeat it loud and keep repeating it often and anyone who rejects it will be accused of being the liar instead.  Never admit the truth. 

Some people say history has a way of repeating itself ....

50 years from now history books will not just label the Trump era as merely a disaster, but we just barely dodged losing our democratic republic to a fascist wannabe dictator who damn near pulled it off.

Many of us were saying this 4 years ago. No, Trump is not Hitler, but it's shocking how effectively he used his game plan without any of his followers knowing, or caring. Just replace the word "Jews" with "Liberals" and see how this reads. 

Bingo.

I do hope some on the right read this little history leason to understand the bigger picture and what fascism looks and sounds like... and no Trump isn’t Hitler, that’s not the comparison to make.  However, Trump literally used the same blueprints from the Nazi playbook to a “T”.  


What the Germans don’t understand about USA in 2017-2020 is that we have a free press, they did not after the mid 1930s.  1/3 of America had access to information to confirm information and has chosen not to, clinging to the irrational lies that are so easily debunked.  There’s such animosity and hatred that’s been brewing for decades from Rush L, then Fox News, then the countless rightwing blogs and Facebook memes.  Years of pounding home the message the media is all liberals and lies about everything has come home to roost.

My greatest fear is that the damage done by Trump to the credibility of our freedoms: namely the free press, free elections - could take DECADES to repair and for some they are permanently lost.


This country can not heal or move forward until we can agree on what is real, what is fact, and what is actually “fake news”.

[Guest]

Somethings just survive the test of time...

Tell a big enough lie loud enough? Over and over again?

People gonna believe it. 

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:

@SFVikeFan said:
Have a lot of friends from Germany from various regions, beliefs, politics and they’re shocked what’s going on here.  As a guy who studied quite a bit of Nazi history at 2 German universities, speak it fluently and used to live in Nuernberg I can assure you of 6 fun facts of Nazi history and how fascism erupted there:


1) The white victim playing card was literally Hitler’s message and how he rose to power, his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is the ultimate Us Poor White Guy text ever written and obviously a favorite for white supremacists ... the blaming of Jews was just the other side of the coin for why white guys had it tough.  The hey we are just poor white guys defending our freedoms was the core theme for “defending” themselves from Jews and the Polish, then later the Allies and to justify violence against civilians, women, children 

2) Strong slogans of nationalism (literally like MAGA) coupled with devout patriotism especially using the military’s image and the flag was fundamental in their messages to the public by Propaganda Minister Goebbels

3) Attacks on the media (Luegenpresse = Lying Press = fake news) actually started shortly after WWI when many Germans began to accuse the Jews of owning all the media. That gave Nazis all the kerosene they needed when critized by the media:  the papers and radio programs are all owned by Jews anyway so of course they’re lying about the Nazis being bad

4) Attacks on election credibility - Nazis also had questioned the credibility of the previous elections in 31 and 32, so in 33 they deployed Hermann Goering and 50,000 SS troops to “oversee” the election.  Nazis only won 43% of the last vote in 1933 when they needed a full majority to assume power .... so they persuaded (ha) another party to absorb into their party, then passed legislation to give Hitler dictatorial powers and didn’t see another election until 1946.

5) In 1937 there was a famous Nazi propaganda anti-Semitic artwork created named “Der Ewige Jude” or “The Eternal Jew” that was turned into a film of the same name, the classic long nose profile with his hand out collecting some gold coins ... Nazis were constantly accusing Jews of collecting all kinds of freebies with the tax dollars of Germans

6)  Hitler’s politics focused on using a platform of total lies to advance his own interests, and his propaganda was extremely succesful in convincing millions they were all victims too and to defend themselves.  In Mein Kampf he called his method “the big lie”.  Basically he said younhave to be passionate, be forceful, repeat it loud and keep repeating it often and anyone who rejects it will be accused of being the liar instead.  Never admit the truth. 

Some people say history has a way of repeating itself ....

50 years from now history books will not just label the Trump era as merely a disaster, but we just barely dodged losing our democratic republic to a fascist wannabe dictator who damn near pulled it off.

Many of us were saying this 4 years ago. No, Trump is not Hitler, but it's shocking how effectively he used his game plan without any of his followers knowing, or caring. Just replace the word "Jews" with "Liberals" and see how this reads. 

Yes and no...

A big part of me says replace the word "jew" with "any brown person"

You look at some of the demographic and geographic targets for where the flip the vote campaigns were? In Michigan? In Georgia?

[Guest]

@purplefaithful said:

@MaroonBells said:

@SFVikeFan said:
Have a lot of friends from Germany from various regions, beliefs, politics and they’re shocked what’s going on here.  As a guy who studied quite a bit of Nazi history at 2 German universities, speak it fluently and used to live in Nuernberg I can assure you of 6 fun facts of Nazi history and how fascism erupted there:


1) The white victim playing card was literally Hitler’s message and how he rose to power, his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is the ultimate Us Poor White Guy text ever written and obviously a favorite for white supremacists ... the blaming of Jews was just the other side of the coin for why white guys had it tough.  The hey we are just poor white guys defending our freedoms was the core theme for “defending” themselves from Jews and the Polish, then later the Allies and to justify violence against civilians, women, children 

2) Strong slogans of nationalism (literally like MAGA) coupled with devout patriotism especially using the military’s image and the flag was fundamental in their messages to the public by Propaganda Minister Goebbels

3) Attacks on the media (Luegenpresse = Lying Press = fake news) actually started shortly after WWI when many Germans began to accuse the Jews of owning all the media. That gave Nazis all the kerosene they needed when critized by the media:  the papers and radio programs are all owned by Jews anyway so of course they’re lying about the Nazis being bad

4) Attacks on election credibility - Nazis also had questioned the credibility of the previous elections in 31 and 32, so in 33 they deployed Hermann Goering and 50,000 SS troops to “oversee” the election.  Nazis only won 43% of the last vote in 1933 when they needed a full majority to assume power .... so they persuaded (ha) another party to absorb into their party, then passed legislation to give Hitler dictatorial powers and didn’t see another election until 1946.

5) In 1937 there was a famous Nazi propaganda anti-Semitic artwork created named “Der Ewige Jude” or “The Eternal Jew” that was turned into a film of the same name, the classic long nose profile with his hand out collecting some gold coins ... Nazis were constantly accusing Jews of collecting all kinds of freebies with the tax dollars of Germans

6)  Hitler’s politics focused on using a platform of total lies to advance his own interests, and his propaganda was extremely succesful in convincing millions they were all victims too and to defend themselves.  In Mein Kampf he called his method “the big lie”.  Basically he said younhave to be passionate, be forceful, repeat it loud and keep repeating it often and anyone who rejects it will be accused of being the liar instead.  Never admit the truth. 

Some people say history has a way of repeating itself ....

50 years from now history books will not just label the Trump era as merely a disaster, but we just barely dodged losing our democratic republic to a fascist wannabe dictator who damn near pulled it off.

Many of us were saying this 4 years ago. No, Trump is not Hitler, but it's shocking how effectively he used his game plan without any of his followers knowing, or caring. Just replace the word "Jews" with "Liberals" and see how this reads. 

Yes and no...

A big part of me says replace the word "jew" with "any brown person"

You look at some of the demographic and geographic targets for where the flip the vote campaigns were? In Michigan? In Georgia?

No doubt it was a campaign based on fear, racism and xenophobia, but I still believe that if you go to any Trump rally, you'll find that who they hate the most--more than other religions, races--are liberals. Liberals are the ones who run the cities and make all the decisions. They own the media that is lying to them about Trump and the pandemic--about everything. Liberals are the ones who call them "deplorable" and tell them they should feel guilty for being white. Liberals are the ones who hate God and force them to pay taxes to support shithole countries and the NEA, etc. etc. Everyone has different biases and prejudices. Anti-liberalism is something they all agree on.  

Hitler was a radical anti-semite and racist, but getting all Germans to buy into that same hate is a tall order, especially considering the horrific lengths he would take it. So he didn't make it about "Judaism." He made it about intellectualism, elitism, science, media, the arts. Jews run it all. If you want someone to blame for your misery, there ya go. 

[Guest]

@MaroonBells said:

@purplefaithful said:

@MaroonBells said:

@SFVikeFan said:
Have a lot of friends from Germany from various regions, beliefs, politics and they’re shocked what’s going on here.  As a guy who studied quite a bit of Nazi history at 2 German universities, speak it fluently and used to live in Nuernberg I can assure you of 6 fun facts of Nazi history and how fascism erupted there:


1) The white victim playing card was literally Hitler’s message and how he rose to power, his book Mein Kampf (My Struggle) is the ultimate Us Poor White Guy text ever written and obviously a favorite for white supremacists ... the blaming of Jews was just the other side of the coin for why white guys had it tough.  The hey we are just poor white guys defending our freedoms was the core theme for “defending” themselves from Jews and the Polish, then later the Allies and to justify violence against civilians, women, children 

2) Strong slogans of nationalism (literally like MAGA) coupled with devout patriotism especially using the military’s image and the flag was fundamental in their messages to the public by Propaganda Minister Goebbels

3) Attacks on the media (Luegenpresse = Lying Press = fake news) actually started shortly after WWI when many Germans began to accuse the Jews of owning all the media. That gave Nazis all the kerosene they needed when critized by the media:  the papers and radio programs are all owned by Jews anyway so of course they’re lying about the Nazis being bad

4) Attacks on election credibility - Nazis also had questioned the credibility of the previous elections in 31 and 32, so in 33 they deployed Hermann Goering and 50,000 SS troops to “oversee” the election.  Nazis only won 43% of the last vote in 1933 when they needed a full majority to assume power .... so they persuaded (ha) another party to absorb into their party, then passed legislation to give Hitler dictatorial powers and didn’t see another election until 1946.

5) In 1937 there was a famous Nazi propaganda anti-Semitic artwork created named “Der Ewige Jude” or “The Eternal Jew” that was turned into a film of the same name, the classic long nose profile with his hand out collecting some gold coins ... Nazis were constantly accusing Jews of collecting all kinds of freebies with the tax dollars of Germans

6)  Hitler’s politics focused on using a platform of total lies to advance his own interests, and his propaganda was extremely succesful in convincing millions they were all victims too and to defend themselves.  In Mein Kampf he called his method “the big lie”.  Basically he said younhave to be passionate, be forceful, repeat it loud and keep repeating it often and anyone who rejects it will be accused of being the liar instead.  Never admit the truth. 

Some people say history has a way of repeating itself ....

50 years from now history books will not just label the Trump era as merely a disaster, but we just barely dodged losing our democratic republic to a fascist wannabe dictator who damn near pulled it off.

Many of us were saying this 4 years ago. No, Trump is not Hitler, but it's shocking how effectively he used his game plan without any of his followers knowing, or caring. Just replace the word "Jews" with "Liberals" and see how this reads. 

Yes and no...

A big part of me says replace the word "jew" with "any brown person"

You look at some of the demographic and geographic targets for where the flip the vote campaigns were? In Michigan? In Georgia?

No doubt it was a campaign based on fear, racism and xenophobia, but I still believe that if you go to any Trump rally, you'll find that who they hate the most--more than other religions, races--are liberals. Liberals are the ones who run the cities and make all the decisions. They own the media that is lying to them about Trump and the pandemic--about everything. Liberals are the ones who call them "deplorable" and tell them they should feel guilty for being white. Liberals are the ones who hate God and force them to pay taxes to support shithole countries and the NEA, etc. etc. Everyone has different biases and prejudices. Anti-liberalism is something they all agree on.  

Hitler was a radical anti-semite and racist, but getting all Germans to buy into that same hate is a tall order, especially considering the horrific lengths he would take it. So he didn't make it about "Judaism." He made it about intellectualism, elitism, science, media, the arts. Jews run it all. If you want someone to blame for your misery, there ya go. 

Oh, he made it plainly about the jews..All the way back to Mein Kampf.

[Guest]

@SFVikeFan said:

50 years from now history books will not just label the Trump era as merely a disaster, but we just barely dodged losing our democratic republic to a fascist wannabe dictator who damn near pulled it off.

Oh Good Lord...the elections over.  Just effin ixnay on the Hitleray, already. 
Where was the (Trump)  rise to power over malignant post-WW I economic conditions, that Hitler took advantage of? 
Where/when was the "Beer Hall" putsch?  Where/when was Kristallnacht?  Where was Mein Kampf?  Where was the ethnic cleansing....the SYSTEMATIC MURDER OF MILLIONS? 
Where were the numerous foreign country take-over/invasions?     No-where.  

I know you've been hyperventilating "Trump = Hitler" for the last 4 years...and this is a (lame) attempt to justify it...but just STOP.  Or pick up a History book.  (My suggestion > TOTAL WAR). 

This Israeli journalist puts it perfectly:

From Biden to CNN’s Amanpour – Why Liberals Think It’s OK to Compare Trump to Nazis- Deborah Brand 
From Deborah Brand:  Deborah is a freelance journalist based out of Jaffa, Israel. After moving to Israel from London in 2002, she received her undergraduate at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a master’s from Bar Ilan University. She was the founding editor of The Jerusalem Post’s Premium Zone and editor of its Oped page. Her work as an investigative journalist has taken her across the Mideast, from Ramallah to Jerusalem to Cairo to Amman.
(My emphases added) 


Call him a blowhard and a bully, declare him vulgar and vain, just stop the comparisons with Hitler. And Goebbels. And Nazism in general. Stop invoking the Holocaust and Nazi Germany when describing Trump’s America in 2020. Stop it. Failing to do so means you are guilty of the very crimes you accuse Trump of: immorality, spreading lies, false equivalence, and sowing division.From CNN anchor Christiane Amanpour’s claim last week that the Nazi genocide, which kicked off with the Kristallnacht pogrom, was “an attack on fact, knowledge, history & truth,” to Joe Biden’s comparison of Trump to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, the net effect of these comparisons is to twist the story of the Nazi enterprise into one about dishonesty and not about hatred and the genocide of an entire people.And in case I need to spell it out, that is dangerous. Far more dangerous, than, say, an offhand comment about “very fine people.” (Which, since we’re already on that topic, let’s just get out the way again for the bazillionth time by reminding the memory-challenged among you of the continuation of that quote in which Trump says, “and I’m not talking about the Neo-nazis and white supremacists because they should be condemned totally” – a nugget of context that is conveniently culled from MSM-fueled groupthink.)Such callous weaponization of the worst atrocity in human history is criminal: at best it constitutes Holocaust revisionism and at worst, Holocaust denial.Why are the woke masses not foaming at the mouth at such heinous comparisons? Why are the cancel-culture vultures not ripping these pundits apart?

What kind of warped moral calculus does it take for someone to compare Trump, who is recognized by the world’s singular Jewish state as the greatest friend it has ever had in the White House, to that same nation’s arch nemesis, Hitler?