“It happened in America. In 2025. In the halls of Congress.

Republican Congressman Keith Self, during a House hearing on censorship and public discourse, looked into the camera and quoted Joseph Goebbels — Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda — as if he were citing a respected authority on governance. “It is the absolute right of the state to supervise the formation of public opinion.” Let those words sink in. This wasn’t an academic comparison. This wasn’t a history lesson. It was a quote from the architect of the Nazi propaganda machine, spoken aloud by a sitting U.S. Congressman in defense of state control over speech.

There is no context in which quoting Goebbels is appropriate. Ever. But in Trump’s America — where the line between fascism and patriotism has been deliberately blurred — it’s not just tolerated. It’s a signal.

Make no mistake: MAGA’s flirtation with fascism is over. They’ve moved in, redecorated the place, and made it their home.

We are no longer watching the slow creep of authoritarianism. We are watching the sprint. And Donald Trump, now back in the Oval Office after the most disgraceful and dangerous comeback in American political history, is not merely condoning it — he’s fueling it.

When Trump praises dictators like Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán, it’s not hyperbole or entertainment. It’s aspiration. When he declares immigrants “poisoning the blood of our nation,” he’s not echoing Ronald Reagan — he’s echoing Adolf Hitler. And now, with Project 2025 well underway, his loyalists are pushing a roadmap that reads like a dystopian instruction manual: purge the federal government of dissenters, dismantle checks and balances, roll back civil rights, and crush independent thought.

But quoting Goebbels? That’s a new low — even for MAGA.

Let’s call this what it is: a brazen embrace of Nazi ideology. Goebbels was not a mere commentator on propaganda. He was its master, responsible for brainwashing a nation, silencing truth, and greasing the rails to Auschwitz with lies and hate. When a U.S. Congressman lifts his words to justify government control of speech, we are staring fascism dead in the eyes.

And don’t for one second believe it was a slip.

Keith Self sits on the same ideological team that celebrated January 6th as “patriotic,” that wants to erase uncomfortable truths from our children’s textbooks, that has outlawed books, banned history, and turned “wokeness” into a slur. These are not conservative values. These are authoritarian tactics. And they are working.

They’ve already dismantled reproductive rights. They’ve gutted voting protections. They’ve weaponized the courts — including a Supreme Court so compromised it shrinks from defending democracy and instead shields billionaires, guns, and bigotry. Trump’s allies now wear the language of fascism like a badge of honor: “retribution,” “domination,” “the enemy of the people.”

And we? We are told to be civil. To see “both sides.” To pretend that quoting Nazis from the House dais is just a political misstep and not a five-alarm fire.

This is not a drill. This is not about taxes or inflation or even the usual push and pull of partisanship. This is about whether America remains a democracy — or descends into something far darker. MAGA isn’t offering policy. It’s offering control. It’s offering submission. It’s offering a future where dissent is treason, where truth is decided by decree, and where quoting Hitler’s inner circle is not only allowed — but cheered.

The danger here isn’t abstract. It’s personal. If you’re Black, brown, LGBTQ+, Muslim, Jewish, disabled, poor, female, or an immigrant — you are the target. If you’re a teacher who believes in science, a librarian who stocks Beloved, a journalist who tells uncomfortable truths — you are the threat. If you believe that America is strongest when it defends liberty and not stomps on it — you are in the way.

And if we don’t stop this now, quoting Goebbels in Congress won’t be a scandal. It will be the standard.

History is screaming at us. The same tools used by fascists of the past — fear, propaganda, scapegoating, and the slow normalization of hate — are being sharpened by men like Trump and wielded by cowards like Keith Self.

We cannot wait for it to get worse. It already has.

This is the moment to speak, to act, to resist. Because when they start quoting Nazis without shame, the only thing left is whether we have the courage to say: Never again.

And mean it.”

*Tony Pentimalli is a political analyst and commentator fighting for democracy, economic justice, and social equity.*

There are 20 months until the 2026 election.
Make the most of them, MAGA will too.

I may have some facts wrong but I'll do my best here.

As I understand it, in the 1930's Germany was at a economic loss. Russia was doing better with their socialist government. Hitler and his "new government" was gaining power so Germans was desperately optimistic.

Hitler proudly and deceitfully described his new politic party as a "new socialist" government similar to what Russia was doing.

Hitler was going to make Germany great again.

He never mentioned until he had the country by the throat that he was a Fascist Dictator and was about to take over the country, control the world and kill or deport all the Jews who of course were to blame for everything.

About a decade after Hitler wrote his plan for this autocratic take over of the world in his manifesto Mein Kampf, he started WW2.

Trump reportedly read Mein Kampf and was inspired. I don't know if that is true or not.
However it is obvious what he is doing now and it isn't good.

If what I say above is only partly true, then we all have problem and the clock is ticking.
I know that about 30% of you won't like my post. So be it. I post it because I am concerned.

Brian

I think your post is mostly revisionist history.

Goebbels was one of the originators of propaganda and manipulation of public opinion. I think both sides use his methods and theories.

Pretty damn dumb to quote him though.

cr, You are probably right about that. My memory often fails me. I am getting to the age where I can hide my own Easter eggs.

Can you help me out a bit on my revisionist stuff and tell me where I exactly I went wrong. It's about a fascinating and relevant time in history. Thanks, Brian

Hitler did promote Nazism as true socialism as he campaigned for the party.

He was an ex-socialist. Germany after WWI legislatively controlling party was the Social Democrats. A center left party. However, the Presidency was held by the conservative, Hindenburg. This was not a ceremonial position. The president could dismiss the Chancellor and to govern unilaterally in times of an in times crisis,

The economic situation in Germany was improving before the Nazis seized power.

Some believe Hindenburg was about to dismiss Hitler, but he died during the consolidation.


Germany was particularly badly affected by the Wall Street Crash because of its dependence on American loans from 1924 onwards. As the loans were recalled, the economy in Germany sunk into a deep depression. Investment in business was reduced.

As a result, wages fell by 39% from 1929 to 1932. People in full time employment fell from twenty million in 1929, to just over eleven million in 1933. In the same period, over 10,000 businesses closed every year. As a result of this, the amount of people in poverty increased sharply.

The Depression associated economic failure and a decline in living standards with the Weimar democracy. When combined with the resulting political instability, it left people feeling disillusioned with the Weimar Republic’s democracy and looking for change.

This enhanced the attractiveness of the Nazis propaganda messages.

By 1932, Germany had reached breaking point. The economic crisis, which in turn had led to widespread social and political unrest in Germany, meant that it could no longer afford to pay reparations. At the Lausanne Conference held in Switzerland, from the 16 June 1932 to the 9 July 1932, the Allies conceded and indefinitely suspended Germany’s reparation payments.

This concession helped to give the economy a small boost in confidence. Under Brüning and later von Papen and, briefly, von Schleicher, there was an increase in state intervention in the economy. One example of this was the work creation schemes which began in the summer of 1932. These work creation schemes would later be expanded and reinvested in by the Nazis to combat unemployment.

These small signs started to hint at a positive climb in the economy.

These small improvements, only truly evident with the benefit of hindsight, were still at the time completely overshadowed by the poverty and widespread discontent about the general economic situation.

It was into this bleak situation that the Nazis were elected into power.

Nazis took control of the Reichstag in 1933, around 6 million Germans were unemployed. 1933 election was The 1933 election followed the previous year's two elections (July and November) and Hitler's appointment as Chancellor. Nazi organizations "monitored" the vote.
This was the first time since 1930 that a governing coalition had held a parliamentary majority. However, despite waging a campaign of terror against their opponents, the Nazis only tallied 44ish percent of the vote on their own, well short of a majority to govern alone.

That is the best I can do in short notice from memory.

I don’t know what or which 5 year plan Stalin was in. One of those caused mass starvation and death. Stalin’s Great Purge was in 37-38. However, Stalin did through pure evil create an industrialized giant. A giant that in one month made more tanks than the Germans did in the entire war.

Nazis-1,300 Tiger1
USSR-57,000 T34-peak was 1,300 per month.

Lheym, Thanks, Good man, Sounds correct to me.

I brought up as a cautionary tale, to draw some comparisons between Trump and Hitler.

Thanks again for your post. Brian