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MAGA hat on stage
This year, November 9 marks the 100th anniversary of Adolf Hitler’s so-called Beer Hall Putsch. It was a significant moment in the history of the Weimar Republic, Germany’s ill-fated attempt at democracy, when, in 1923, Hitler’s Stormtroopers tried to overthrow the elected government. The Putsch failed and Hitler was briefly imprisoned (his prisoner number was “45”).
It may seem an odd centennial to recognize. For many, especially those with no interest in history, mentioning it gets a confused look at best. However, a reference to the popular musical Cabaret might jar a memory—you know, the movie version with Joel Grey and Liza Minnelli, and the Rep staged it years ago ... It’s set during the Weimar Republic. And, if you were ever curious what life was like at the time, we’re living it today.
Like the characters of “Cabaret,” who, for all the distraction created by the Roaring ‘20s explosion of artistic energy, sexual liberation and progressive democratic ideals, chose to dismiss the rise of Nazism, we, too, have ignored the many warning signs. Today, in the guise of the MAGA GOP, Nazism is again on the rise.
Organized and Armed
In fact, it has been here all along, closeted, as it were, limited to a variety of iterations united in common grievance, antisemitism and homophobia. In the past, Nazis appeared in home-made storm trooper uniforms at PrideFest and elsewhere, to shout “not in our town” slogans, then to retreat to the suburbs for brats and beer. Now, however, they are organized and armed, following an undeniably Nazi inspired playbook.
Recently, more and more dots have been lining up to be connected. Reminiscent of 1920s right-wing German rallies, during the 2016 presidential campaign, then-candidate Donald Trump regularly called for political violence and locking up his rival candidate. Months after his inauguration, in August 2017, he endorsed the neo-Nazi white supremacists in Charlottesville, VA who, during their “Unite the Right” march, chanted “Jews will not replace us” while parading under swastika and runic banners. Trump called them “fine people.”
The next year saw another international news item, the infamous photo of Baraboo High School juniors giving the Nazi salute and flashing the white power sign. Gov. Tony Evers condemned it. I wrote about it. The German press covered it as well, quoting the “stunned” reaction of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Concentration Camp Memorial.
The “Official Trump Card” hawked to followers featured an eagle design appropriated from a Nazi SS flag bearer’s emblem. Conservative Political Action Committee (CPAC) made headlines when, in 2021, its conference dais was in the shape of the Nazi Odal rune (also seen at Charlottesville). Deutschland Erwache! the Nazi Weimar-era motto and clarion call “Germany Wake Up!” has also been adapted to the “ReAwaken America” tour, a MAGA movement gas lighting road show promoting white Christian nationalism.
Controlling Society
Still, one could argue the use of salutes and iconography by extremists does not a Nazi party make. But there’s more, of course, that does. The Nazi strategy to control all aspects of society was already in motion prior to their takeover in 1933. Today’s GOP exerts identical efforts to seize school boards, health departments, election boards, the judiciary, civil service and law enforcement in order to control the mechanics of democracy. Wisconsin’s spate of school districts crushing LGBTQ expression, book bans and the recent Racine School District firing a beloved school principal because he is gay are only the most recent examples.
Meanwhile, the Nazi cult of personality that eventually propelled Hitler to power is embodied by Trump himself. In fact, echoing Nazi racial theory, he has denigrated people of color for “poisoning the blood of our country” while touting his own superior “German genes.” Of course, his narcissistic conviction in his own superiority is his modus operandi, even musing about being president for life.
Then came the 2020 election. Trump’s defeat launched the Big Lie narrative of the stolen election. The attempted coup on January 6, 2021, was his version of the Beer Hall Putsch. Like Hitler, this failure to overthrow democracy only made his fixation on power even more determined.
Now running again for president, Trump has laid out his vision of America. Looking ahead, Republicans have created Project 2025, a plan for the systematic removal of tens of thousands government workers to be replaced by loyalists. In a recent CPAC speech, the would-be GOP Fuhrer has announced a new “baby boom,” suggesting government subsidies, “baby bonuses,” to encourage it. Coupled with the campaign to end all abortions, the effort is to provide a white work force to end the reliance on immigrants and the replacement of the white race by minorities. He also revisited the Nazi concept of Lebensraum, living space, promising to build “freedom cities” for young families. Those cities would be built in “the magnificent classical style of Western civilization” (read in the manner of previous authoritarian regimes of Hitler and Mussolini.). Ugly modern buildings (read degenerate art like the Calatrava), would be razed, he added. Naturally, he has suggested terminating the Constitution.
Another Weimar déjà vu is our LGBTQ complacency. There has been a significant increase of Nazi harassment at Pride events, throughout the nation. Wisconsin’s turn came at Watertown Pride where a cadre of neo-Nazis disrupted the event chanting “There will be blood, blood, blood.” In response Gov. Evers released a statement condemning the Nazis. The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) also issued a public declaration of solidarity with the LGBTQ community, in part stating, “We extend our unwavering support to our LGBTQ friends and allies, and we will not be silent in the face of attacks upon them.” Wes Shaver, Milwaukee Pride Inc. president, publicly thanked the JCRC for their statement and Cream City Foundation shared it on social media. Other LGBTQ organizations and leaders were sadly silent, neither reacting to the Nazi’s intimidation at the Pride event nor responding to the governor’s and JCRC’s statements.
To be fair, as preoccupied as we are with drag shows and pronouns it is of little surprise that when the first Republican presidential debate took place in Milwaukee, news coverage of protests by various women’s, immigrant and civil rights groups showed neither rainbow flags nor garnered a mention of a participating LGBTQ group.
“Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome…”
