Willkommen im cabaret: Young people’s thoughts on our political climate

Remember learning about the dictatorial reign of Adolf Hitler during history class and wondering, “What would I have done?”

Willkommen, say young Americans whose political radars are flashing red for fascism.

In a recent TikTok video, 29-year-old filmmaker Jonah Green told his followers, “Whatever you’re doing right now … is what you would have done.” Other young social media users warn fellow Americans that history may be repeating itself (or perhaps is being copied) here in the United States.

Cabaret

Many younger social media users are looking to the Broadway musical “Cabaret” — a play set in Berlin during the rise of Nazism in the 1920s and ’30s — as a backdrop to their conversations. The musical currently is enjoying a highly profitable revival on Broadway.

Cabaret’s emcee and narrator, sometimes portrayed as a performer or puppeteer, takes the audience through a subtle story about Hitler’s rise to power. The audience is barely aware of the dangerous political climate at hand amid the emcee’s distracting entertainment skills.

Touting a black trench coat in most productions, the emcee removes it during the final scene to reveal another outfit underneath. In some productions, it is a concentration camp uniform, while in others the emcee is revealed as a Nazi soldier. The ending connects moments throughout the production which, shown together, indicate the rise of fascism.

Along with this piece of pop-culture, young people today are calling upon images from Nazi Germany and other fascist regimes to understand the current U.S. political climate.

But how are they making connections between the history books and current headlines? Many consider the basic definition and components of fascism.

Fascism 101

Defined by the Council on Foreign Relations, the term “fascism” is a “mass political movement that emphasizes extreme nationalism, militarism and the supremacy of the nation over the individual.”

Fascist regimes are “highly conservative in their championing of traditional values” and leaders claim to support the people’s everyday needs, but “their regimes often align with powerful business interests.” Perhaps the most famous example of fascism in world politics is Nazi Germany, but many credit the movement’s inception to Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

While much goes into a powerful fascist regime, the core pieces are simple:

1. Elect a charismatic leader who wraps the public around his fingers. If his campaign appeals to their economic interests, or co-opts dominant religious beliefs, he is off to a rolling start.
2. Censor access to knowledge, information and free speech. This can be done by suppressing the media or banning books, especially targeting any opinions that disagree with or question the leader.
3. Destroy democracy and replace it with a centralized autocracy, especially by using the military and other violent forces. Or by centering economic power in the government. This concentrates power around the rising dictator and takes it away from the people.
4. Punish, deport or annihilate anyone who stands in the way of what the leader wants. If necessary, create labor or death camps to send undeportable people to.
5. Do this all (a) under the guise of nationalistic propaganda, so constituents won’t question the rising dictator’s ill intentions and (b) while creating political and social chaos to distract the public from the leader’s worst intentions.

Considering these criteria, young people and other social media users are making connections between the seeming political direction of the U.S. under a second Trump presidency and Adolf Hitler’s leadership in Nazi Germany.

‘A Hitler salute is a Hitler salute is a Hitler salute’

But young people in America are not the only ones concerned.

In a leaked diplomatic report, German ambassador to the U.S. Andreas Michaelis warned Trump’s political agenda has the potential to “largely undermine the system of democratic checks and balances in the United States.”

German citizens are now protesting fascism in preparation for their upcoming election, hoping the rise in fascist symbolism and ideology in the U.S. will not threaten their own country’s political landscape.

In a recent article titled, “A Hitler salute is a Hitler salute is a Hitler Salute,” German journalist Lenz Jacobsen calls out this symbolism assuredly, reacting to Elon Musk’s Nazi-like hand gestures during the Trump inauguration last week. He wrote, “Anyone who raises their right arm in a sweeping and diagonal manner several times during a political speech in front of a partly right-wing extremist audience is doing the Hitler salute.”

“The Hitler salute is illegal in Germany due to its connections to Nazi party.”

Musk did the gesture twice during his speech and has joked about the moment but has not denied any intention of referencing fascism.

The Hitler salute is illegal in Germany due to its connections to the Nazi party, and images circulating of Musk have been censored for German audiences to avoid spreading its anti-democratic meaning.

But Americans don’t seem so sure about the gesture.

Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee to serve as ambassador to the United Nations, defended Musk when questioned about it during her confirmation hearing, saying he “did not do those salutes.” Even the Anti-Defamation League, an advocacy group that fights against antisemitism, called it “an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm” in response to controversy about the moment on X.

Those brushing off the gesture as something of little concern have been met with great criticism from young Americans, along with journalists, public figures and politicians internationally who see the gesture for what it so clearly resembles.

Some say they are embarrassed, and the failure of American leaders to responsibly acknowledge what the gesture symbolizes is pathetic and dangerous. Especially given the empowerment right-wing extremist groups have expressed after the speech.

And whether the gesture was intentional or not, many young people are begging American journalists to call out the gesture for the hateful ideals it symbolizes for many, just as German citizens, politicians and journalists are so confidently doing right now.

‘The professors are the enemy’

Aside from physical resemblance to fascism, young people on social media also have been urging followers to acquire books and other learning materials in print, especially those on the U.S. banned book list. They fear the media risks being suppressed now that the tech billionaires have such power and influence in politics.

Many of these books discuss corrupt governments and revolutionary movements against them, such as 1984 by George Orwell or the Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins. Young people are asking their communities to consider why a democratic government might wish to restrict its constituents’ ability to learn about democracy.

“Many are getting hard copies of the U.S. Constitution so they can know and defend their rights.”

And among the books young people are stocking their shelves with, many are getting hard copies of the U.S. Constitution so they can know and defend their rights.

This is because its content has been contested in recent legislative proposals. And because, on the first day of Trump’s presidency, the Constitution page on the official White House website was suddenly archived.

Again, many point to Nazi Germany — where many books the government deemed “anti-German” were confiscated or destroyed — as a historic example of where this kind of censorship can lead.

But while book bans have been a divisive issue for some time in the U.S., users are also drawing attention to the recent words of Vice President JD Vance, who proclaimed “the professors are the enemy” during a National Conservatism Conference in November.

Although he was quoting former President Richard Nixon, users have likened Vance’s use of the quote to statements from former fascist and dictatorial leaders like Stalin, Pinochet, Mao and Pol Pot. All these leaders villainized education and access to knowledge.

Many young people believe this villainization of knowledge could be a strategy of controlling the general population by instilling a sense of distrust in learning institutions, in turn creating a sense of dependency on political leaders to tell Americans what they should think and do. An ongoing example of this is the public’s increasing distrust in scientific evidence for climate change due to politicians’ denial of the process and antagonization of experts.

Trump’s rise to power

And as Trump ascends into power, the media has been hastily writing updates on what Trump has already been doing. Here’s a few things BNG writers have reported on:

Religion: In a sermon preached the day after Inauguration Day, Bishop Mariann Budde, the Episcopal bishop of Washington, D.C., asked Trump and Vance to consider how biblical principles of unity promote freedom. Although she calmly cited the Gospel lessons directly from the Bible, a group of Republicans in the House of Representatives presented House Resolution 59 in response, which claims her sermon was “distorted” and a “display of political activism.”

Luckily, many pastors have spoken out affirming her message, such as BNG columnist Rodney Kennedy, who cited multiple biblical models for this type of preaching in a recent article. It seems the gospel does, in fact, invoke sentiments of unity, mercy and love.

Big political moves: By the end of his first day in office, Trump already made big political moves. This included pardoning the convicted January 6 insurrectionists (even those who pled guilty to their crimes), who are part of a right-wing extremist paramilitary group pledging loyalty to Trump. Many were overjoyed over the pardons, but some insurrectionist themselves have refused the pardons, citing their own behavior as unacceptable and violent.

Richard Conville wrote about the connections between the insurrectionists and a Mussolini-era paramilitary group for BNG.

Trump also signed a great deal of immigration-related executive orders, proclaiming a national emergency at the southern border and calling for mass deportations of immigrants living in the country. He also attempted to redefine the 14th Amendment’s understanding of birthright citizenship, which would give the government leverage to choose which natural-born citizens are worthy of citizenship, including reassessing the rights of Native Americans.

Newswriter Jeff Brumley offered a rundown for BNG.

And there’s more

And because we can only write so fast, there is more. During his first week in office, Trump:

• Delayed the shutdown of TikTok on U.S. servers, sparking much speculation among its users that the app might begin to censor their access to political media.
• Established the Department of Government Efficiency, which Elon Musk will lead.
• Withdrew from the World Health Organization.
• Withdrew from the Paris Agreement, making the U.S. one of just four countries in the world who aren’t part of the international treaty that works to mitigate climate change. (Even North Korea is part of the agreement).
• Terminated DEI programs in the federal government, calling them sources of “immense public waste.”
• Declared the government shall only recognize two sexes to “defend women’s rights” by asserting that all people identify with the gender of their reproductive cell at conception. (Scientists have argued this makes all Americans female, since male reproductive characteristics do not form until a few weeks after conception, leaving the door open for variations of sexual organs, such as male or intersex babies). The presidential action also denounces “gender ideology” and “gender identity.”
• Re-enforced the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits tax dollars from being used to pay for abortion procedures. This move has brought attention to House Resolution 7, proposed by Republican Andy Biggs earlier this year, which asserts that women’s health care should “address the needs of men.” The resolution also promotes “Pro Women’s Healthcare Centers,” a women’s health organization known for its stance against abortion and birth control.

And that’s only a short list.

Amid this overwhelming slew of news updates, young Americans are depending on independent news outlets to continue having these conversations that matter. Because in this cabaret, the last thing we need is a trench coat hiding the truth.

 

Mallory Challis is a master of divinity student at Wake Forest University School of Divinity. She is a former BNG Clemons Fellow.

 

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