Oakland, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – On February 20, 1939, the German-American Bund held a rally at Madison Square Garden (MSG) called a “Mass Demonstration for True Americanism.” It was fueled by the pall of the Great Depression, which was still fresh in the American consciousness; and boosted by lingering economic struggles in post-Depression America, along with growing isolationist sentiments driven by xenophobia and unvarnished racism. The Bund was an openly pro-Nazi organization that demonized Jews, and conflated all Jews as Communists; organized by Fritz Kuhn, who fashioned himself as an “American Fuhrer.” They set up summer camps in the US, and had their kids wear Hitler Youth uniforms, while indoctrinating them into their sick ideology.
On October 27, 2024, Donald Trump held a rally at the same MSG (different building) to promote the same concepts of bigotry, racism, xenophobia and hate of “the other.” The comparisons were unavoidable, despite Republican denialism.
This six-hour hate fest was a quixotic move by Trump, not intended to win electoral votes in New York; but to stir hatred in the breasts of those who are his followers, and to denigrate those who are not. He didn’t even invite the seven New York Republicans running for their seats, opting instead for speakers spouting infantile “humor” and insults. The clear message is that he’s serious about jailing political opponents, ending civil liberties and making America a Christian Nationalist-Fascist Theocracy if elected again. Like Kuhn, Trump is a deep admirer of “a Jew-hating, mass-murdering maniac,” as Hitler was characterized by Lt. Aldo Raine (Brad Pitt) in Quentin Tarentino’s 2009 film, Inglourious Basterds.
New York Times columnist “Michele Goldberg noted: “The message the MAGA caravan brought to Madison Square Garden was that their movement will soon be utterly unconstrained.” But that event illustrated that it already is. Trump has doubled down on every aspect of his threats of American carnage, including deporting “enemies within,” such as Jack Smith, Hillary Clinton, judges, journalists; and using the US military against its own citizens. The brazenness would have been shocking in 2016, but now is almost normalized in context. That’s a measure of how badly this man has warped the political spectrum, while giving American Fascists the “all clear” signal to come out and act out.
MSNBC cable news is being pummeled by right-wingers for rightfully splicing scenes from the 1939 rally into their coverage. Ignoring that would have been a sin of omission for historical and journalistic thoroughness. The juxtaposition of the two videos was blasted as “shameful” by conservatives, who pointed out the diversity of the crowd. But that’s what and who they are. The Republican spin machine and media (e.g. Rupert Murchoch’s Fox News and New York Post) are all atwitter because someone showed the obvious parallels.
Fox News branded it inflammatory and unfair to call it a “Nazi rally,” but the participants displayed no coyness or subtlety about their message. It was a disturbing, delayed echo from the 1939 event. Trump funder and enabler Elon Musk wore his black designer MAGA gear, with fascist design overtones. Some thoughtful Republicans tried, pathetically, to distance themselves, while most embraced it, and doubled down on the message. Their party was swamped and subsumed by Trumpism, just as Ronald Reagan kicked the Ripon Society out of the “Big Tent”, to make room for the Moral Majority. Thoughtful Republicans such as Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger have been booted out, in the same manner.
“Alt-Right,” Digital, Dream / Dreamland v3 / IbisPaint, 2024.
Let’s get one thing straight: Donald Trump is NOT “good for the Jews” or Israel. A minority of American Jews abandoned the Democratic Party under Reagan, swayed by the myths of Reaganomics and his alleged support for Israel; which was really driven by the Evangelical Zionists. They ignore the fact that the Evangelical “love” for Israel isn’t predicated on their millenarian hopes that Jews gathering the Holy Land will provoke the return of Christ and the conversion or damnation of all the Jews. This wacky theology is, of course, a euphemistic version of Hitler’s Final Solution: a world without Jews. The presence of a handful of right wing, fairly insular and uninformed Jews says nothing about the extremist character of the event. They pretended it wasn’t a display of fascism, because all they care about is putting Trump back in power so he won’t interfere with Likud PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s genocide in Gaza, and aggression in Lebanon, Syria and Iran. They’ve been conned into believing that Trump is “good for the Jews and Israel,” by their own misperceptions. Not all bright, successful people are deep thinkers, especially single-issue voters.
The content of the rally was pure mendacity, as there is no positive substance to Trump’s campaign. CNN broke away to fact-check some assertions in real time, including that FEMA had no money for hurricane victims because it had all been given to illegal migrants, that thousands of illegal migrants had invaded Springfield, MO, and that the US is an “occupied country.” Much has been made about the five hours of “entertainment,” which set the stage for Trump’s appearance, including the shameful insults against Puerto Ricans. Their only concept of humor is abuse and ridicule; infantile and juvenile.
The most urgent takeaway is that this rally represents Trump’s full investment in American fascism. He is doubling down on the worst and most inflammatory things he’s said, however wrong and untrue, because that’s what his base is buying. The gathering illustrates the extent to which the entire MAGA movement is increasingly unhinged, totally reliant on packaging dystopian fantasies and lies, and forcefully spreading them around. Most Republicans embrace all that, because Trump is what they’ve always wanted in a candidate. Others are trying to do damage control for all the unvarnished racism and vitriol. Ultimately, the purpose was to set the stage, and inflame his supporters so that they are primed for riots nationwide if he loses.
An irony is that MSG is known as the world’s greatest entertainment venue. As with Fox News itself, the rally functioned as a dark and foreboding form of entertainment. At times such as these, America needs heroes, real and fictional. Perhaps we need to call on an Indiana Jones, flanked by Taylor Swift and Beyonce, to deny the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail to the Nazis and aid the Kamala Harris campaign.
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