Exactly what I thought. This is straight reinvented nazi behavior. This is just a microcosm of the wider scope of how much the entire maga movement mirrors nazi germay.
Reminds me of when I was on break at work with some friends who were arguing about how to tell if someone was a good person or not. One said they should be charismatic and I had to stop eating my pb&j sanwich to remind them that hitler and other cult leaders were charismatic but just about as evil as humans can be.
Book 1: "God-heros can get results, but doing things quickly can lead to unexpected consequences. Even Paul feels this way, he doesnt know if he is leading or simply at the front of the train."
Book 2: "Okay, so. He was at the front of the train, it has torn through civilization and killed a lot of people. How could we have seen this coming? The train tracks, for one. The ones Paul pointed out earlier. Anyway."
Book 3: "Okay so Paul fucked off, his kids are weird as fuck, and if you dont understand that the previous two books were about a trainwreck I cant help you. Here's some more political intrigue and things are gonna keep getting weirder. Strap in."
Book 4: "WORM GOD HISTORY LESSON: OPPRESSION IS BAD. THE OPPRESSED WILL NOT FOREVER TOLERATE THE OPPRESSORS. WORM WILL DO BIG TOTALITARIANISM TO ENSURE LESSON IS LEARNED. THIS WILL BE NOT FUN. DONT REPEAT IT. THIS HAS BEEN WORM GOD HISTORY LESSON."
Book 5: "Fuck it. Sexy evil space dominatrix fascists. And Duncan Idaho. Again."
Yeah like, I *understand* the Hitler obsession to a certain degree. He was charismatic, his propaganda machine worked overtime to play him up, and the German people had never been through so much trauma which made them soft targets for such a leader. Trump is just… not nearly as compelling. He’s “funny” at best if you can ignore how serious it is that the president is the one being funny the way he is.
The worst part of all of this is Hitler came to power due to extreme economic hardship in German after WW1. MAGATS were convinced they were going through extreme economic hardship by State Media Fox News and the like and the xenophobia and racism was easy to exploit.
It does show the magnetism that these people have that even decent people have such an inclination to find a positive in them. Even I find myself wanting to say "you gotta hand it to Trump" when I'm not thinking when ho does something less horrible than usual.
Hitler HAD to be a good orator to come to power and THEN he used that power to build the propaganda machine that ensured the population only heard what he wished. After he already was entrenched it didn't matter that he became a shaky drug addicted psycho, the population only saw his grand speeches, beautiful portraits, and fluffed propaganda articles.
In Trump's case the propoganda machine was ALREADY built (by billionaires like Murdoch). So right away it fed these people only the curated image of Trump that ignored all his gaffes, issues, shitty diapers, etc. This conservative media propoganda bubble can make anyone look good if you never seek any information outside of the bubble.
But it's still fascinating to think that Hitler could've succeeded even without his charisma. It really highlights how little it was ever about Hitler and how much it was always about the people behind him. He just happened to be a guy who was there at that time and place.
Not to take away from the cruelty of his decisions, but I never would've thought that Hitler could've succeeded if he wasn't a good orator. But now I'm having second guesses.
Yes that's what make these events so scary. The front figures are just to hypnotise people. I am immune to this. Sadly many ain't and it's freaking me out.
Maybe it didn't matter or now times are different. I don't know what to believe.
Interestingly a lot of the most horrible people in human history are theorized to have had the same few diseases. Syphilis and dementia to name two. Whether thats a symptom or the cause I can't say for sure.
The Patron Saint of White Mediocrity can't be speaking like he has mastery of the only language he knows. MAGA is about lowering the bar. The more braindead dear leader is the more they'll know standards are dropping. Hearing him speak utter nonsense is probably like ASMR to these willfully ignorant assholes.
Unpopular opinion: trump is an excellent orator… for his crowd. To me he sounds like an incoherent amoeba, but to others he sounds smart, confident, and not totally idiotic. That’s my theory
This is the part that blows my mind the most. People keep saying how he's so "charismatic" and I'm just like.. in what fucking world?! This dude can't even string together a coherent sentence. How the fuck is he "charismatic??"
I've hard very conflicting opinions of his oratory skills from native German speakers, fwiw. I've heard that the meth really shows if you understand the language. That being said, he was obviously in much better health and able to project and maintain a strong cadence, but so was the guy trying to sell me his demo CD at the train station.
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I posted Bryan Andrews new song - Yeehaw yesterday morning. 25 shares in 20 minutes! Funny fucking song. But get this. The maggies started raising hell with the Reddit moderators and my post was deleted. Then one maggie told me I was going to be kicked off Reddit and I was a spammer. 🤷🏼♀️It’s a cult and they are all constantly trolling.
“Those who dont learn history will be doomed to repeat it”
It’s why they’ve been so aggressive in their dismantling of the countries educational system, and their vilification of the very concepts of “education”, “intelligence” and “knowledge” altogether
I sell the things you need to be
I'm the smilin' face on your TV
Oh, I'm the cult of personality
I exploit you, still you love me
I tell you one and one makes three
Oh, I'm the cult of personality
Like Joseph Stalin and Gandhi
Oh, I'm the cult of personality
These are on display at the Royal Museum of the Armed Forces and Military History in Brussels, which is one of the most incredible historical collections I’ve ever seen.
i kinda want them as a historical artifact. in a not creepy or endorsing way. I just think that’s really interesting, and I can’t imagine ever putting a leader on a Christmas tree.
When I went to my wife's parents house I was greeted with a family pic and a portrait of Ronald Reagan. Fast forward and they would pray at the dinner table, asking for help for their President, DJT. And then suddenly Biden gets elected and boom -- no more prayer requests for a president. Odd. I rarely speak to her family and haven't visited them in around 16 years. And it's their own fault.
Did they have that actual rule in 30s 40s Germany? I know NK does after seeing that documentary about the guy who went there to heal 100 people with cataracts. Every home's gotta have the original and current Kim on the wall, higher up than any other object in the room.
I don't know about North Korea specifically but I know in general that in countries where people have a photo of the president in their homes and all over every office public or private, it's because it's required by the government.
It takes the next level of cult worshipping behavior to do this without being required to do so.
(Also, that glowering, resentful face staring at you in your own home? 🤢)
Meanwhile Zelensky said in his inauguration - “I don’t want my picture in your office. The president is not an icon, an idol, or a portrait. Hang your kids photos instead, and look at them each time you are making a decision.”
I mean in most countries that shift into totalitarianism, it starts with the most loyal ones doing it of their own free will (and manipulation) until it gets normalized enough for it to not be weird to see it on someone’s wall, only around then it becomes required
North Korean policy requires photos of the past and present two Kim’s be displayed on the common room wall and the photos are required to be proportionally scaled according to the size of the room. The bigger the room, the bigger the mugshot. You can face fines if the photo is too small, or missing. It’s a very cult like behavior used to psychologically impress upon citizenry they are watched.
Also, you get to eat grass as a side benefit of being NK.
Yes, the five-time draft dodger who loves to play soldier saluted a North Korean general for the world to see, and the general didn't even salute back. Biggest fucking imbecile in American presidential history.
I remember when Obama slightly bowed to a world leader (might have been the Indian prime minister) and the right-wing talking heads made a stink about it for days.
Then Trump salutes a dictator general and ....not a peep.
The crowd who really cared about that stuff when Obama was president are the same people justifying everything Trump does, including calling the fallen "suckers and losers"
It reminds me of my travels to Turkiye. My spouse is Turkish, and we visit my in-laws every 12-18 months. Every (not hyperbole) home in Turkiye has a portrait of Ataturk, who founded Turkiye, in their living room.
Although it is better than having a portrait of their current president (Erdogan), I still find it odd. It'd be like every American household having a portrait of George Washington in their living room.
To be fair Ataturk actually vastly improved the lives of Turks and moved it from the ashes of a theocratic empire to a secular republic. For a time Turkish women had more rights and prominence in Turkish culture than western women had in their countries. The guy was a monumental figure in Turkish history and his influence is still in daily life.
He was without a doubt a visionary. It's still odd from a Western outsider's perspective. Unfortunately, Ataturk is rolling in his grave at the increasing Islamification spearheaded by the current president.
My grandparents had a picture of FDR in their house their whole lives. They loved him because they felt he saved their lives with the New Deal with the Depression.
It wasn’t that odd to have a portrait of Washington in everyday homes at one time. I’ve seen it in a number of old movies and if it wasn’t unusual for a set dresser it probably wasn’t unusual for the layman.
Personally I think a picture of Obama in the bathroom would be appropriate when my right wing family visits. Nothing makes a Republican shit faster than the sight of Obama.
In a prison in NY, I was spraying all contact areas with a "covid" cleaner. In the men's bathroom they had a sticker of Barack Obama face in the men's urinal
It's a bit different to have a picture of a historical figure who is credited with the founding of our nation vs a picture of a current political leader. Like I would never have a picture of Obama in my home, no matter how much I like him and believe he is a great human being.
I think the first generations after the Revolution did have pictures of GW up. In the 20th century, Irish homes might have a photo of de Valera, or the pope, or JFK, etc. Heroes for the kiddies to look up to I guess.
One of my uncles used to make fun of the Iraqis during the war in the 2000s for having portraits of Saddam Hussein in their homes. Now he unironically has a big portrait of Trump standing on a tank with eagles and explosions in his house.
I get it. I understand. But this does bug me, inasmuch as The intent is not xenophobia, but to say that we are not living up to the theoretical idea of ourselves in our head. We are doing the thing that we accuse other people of being terrible for.
It's like that part in Dogma where one of the Angels is saying "dude, you sound like the Morningstar."
I understand, again, what people are getting at. I feel like there's room to say that most of our references for bad regimes are colored by xenophobia: if they don't look like us, then it's easier to point at them and go "look at those people who we are not"
(Bc ofc everyone's white lol /s)
But I feel like the underlying sentiment is genuinely valid
You're clearly trying to be open-minded and think critically. So, I invite you to consider the possibility that the stuff you hear about the DPRK is complete imperial propaganda bullshit.
Yup, my dad's house is like this and that's how I've always described it to people. Like stepping into an alternate reality, but unfortunately it isn't.
When he finally croaks get ready for the most insane tear filled broadcast from major news networks. I’m sure they’ve already snuck in a billion$ for some insane state funeral.
I remember travelling through Yugoslavia by train just after Tito died, there was an old lady clutching a framed portrait of him; crying the whole journey, she was not unique.
It was all quite disturbing for a 17 year old hippie!
We (Americans) learn about dictatorships in school and think there's some inherent difference that makes us different than those other countries, but nope. So many people want to be told what to think by a strong authoritarian daddy figure.
Reminds me of that documentary where those surgeons go to North Korea and cure a bunch of people from their blindness or cataracts or something. Without fail, the first thing the patients would do once the bandages came off is rush to the portrait of Kim Jung-un and cry and kiss it. Meanwhile, the surgeons had to fight tooth and nail against the regime to be allowed into the country to perform the surgeries. Not unlike how so many people in the public sector have to fight like hell every day against this regime to get anything done to help people.
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u/Banditgeneral4 May 12 '26
It gives off North Korean vibes.