Ever wonder what Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Donald Trump’s America really have in common? Ever hear someone say, “Trump’s not Hitler,” and wonder how far we’ll go before we admit history’s got a new logo?
In this episode, we unpack the modern makeover of old-school fascism — the branding, the gaslighting, and the crowd control. What used to be uniformed rallies are now campaign tours with theme songs. What used to be propaganda is now primetime “news.”
Let's confront the uncomfortable parallels that most people choose to ignore or worse, excuse. Because history didn't repeat...it just swapped uniforms and hashtags.
If you’ve been feeling that eerie déjà vu — this episode names it.
About your host:
Sonia in Cyber is a multicultural feminist voice, creative entrepreneur, and unapologetic truth-teller. With roots in education, tech, and product marketing, she blends data with empathy, humor with heartbreak, to expose the cracks in America’s “normal.” Through her podcast Somebody Pinch Me, she gives voice to the disillusioned, the outspoken, the overlooked, and the quietly furious — proving that truth doesn’t just survive in chaos; it thrives in it. Her mission is simple: to use her voice to inspire others to keep fighting, resisting, and moving forward — no matter what.
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Episode Transcript
You ever feel like you're watching history
repeat itself in real time?
Like the headlines are pulledstraight from a 1930s history
book, only this time it'swrapped in a red hat and reality
TV?
Yeah, me too.
This is Somebody Pinch Me andtoday's episode, "History Didn't
Just Repeat, It Rebranded."Because if you've ever wondered
how a nation as advanced, ascultured, as powerful as Germany
(00:44):
could fall into the hands of agenocidal maniac, you're not
alone.
And if you've ever lookedaround America lately and felt a
little too much deja vu, you'renot imagining it.
Let's get into it.
Hitler didn't walk into poweryelling, "I'm going to murder
six million Jews!".
He started by "othering", byblaming Germany's problems on
(01:05):
immigrants, minorities, theelites, and political enemies.
Sound familiar?
He called the press the"Lügenpresse", the lying press.
Trump today?
Fake News.
He called opponents enemies ofthe people.
Trump today?
Same playbook.
Joseph Goebbels, the mastermindbehind the Nazi propaganda
(01:26):
machine, said "propaganda worksbest when those being
manipulated are confidentthey're acting on their own free
will".
In other words, when folks areso brainwashed they fail to see
how much their actions, beliefs,and lives are being controlled.
The kind of propaganda thatmakes you believe you're
speaking your own mind, whenreally you're just repeating
someone else's script that wasfed to you.
(01:47):
Like the consistent script ofinsults, arguments, or logic,
and I use that very loosely,you'll see and hear used by MAGA
today.
It's never been about freedom.
It's about convincing thesefolks that they're fighting
tyranny while they carry waterfor the actual tyrants.
And it worked, because theaverage German wasn't evil.
They were scared.
(02:07):
They were broke.
They wanted someone to blame.
So when Hitler offered simpleanswers to complex problems, the
same way Trump and friendsalways offer simple explanations
for the most complicated issuesin America, Germans didn't just
listen, they cheered.
Now to understand how this waseven possible, let's take a
(02:28):
moment to dive into Germany'shistory pre-Hitler.
After World War I, the Treatyof Versailles blamed Germany
entirely for the war.
It required Germany to takefull blame through the "War
Guilt Clause", pay enormousreparations (over 132 billion
marks), surrender 13% of itsterritory in all overseas
colonies, and they were strippedof their military might by
(02:51):
limiting the size of themilitary drastically.
The national psyche wasshattered.
The people felt punished,embarrassed, and robbed of
dignity.
Many Germans saw this as anational humiliation, not just
unfair, but an intentional actto keep Germany weak.
Enter the Nazis.
They promised to make Germanygreat again.
(03:14):
Literally.
They told Germans they were thesuperior race, that others were
to blame, Jews, Marxists,immigrants, the disabled, and
that they had been stabbed inthe back by their own corrupt
elites.
This narrative became centralto Hitler's rise.
Sound familiar?
It should.
In modern America, decades ofeconomic decline, factory
(03:37):
closures, automation, andoffshoring left many rural and
working class Americans,particularly white Americans,
feeling forgotten.
After the Cold War, Americashifted into a globalist
corporate-first economy.
MAGA capitalized on this.
They still do.
Trump spoke directly to theresentment.
"They're laughing at us." "Theytook your jobs." "The elites
(03:59):
betrayed you." "I alone can fixit." It wasn't about policy.
It was about restoring prideand offering someone to blame.
Now, going back to Germany, theGerman government tried to pay
their reparations by printingmore money.
The result?
One of the worst cases ofhyperinflation in modern
history.
A loaf of bread went from 250marks in January 1923 to 200
(04:24):
billion marks by November.
Middle class families watchedtheir life savings evaporate
overnight.
Children played with stacks ofworthless bills and people used
money for fuel.
It was cheaper to burn thanfirewood.
Hyperinflation in the 1920sdestroyed the German middle
class.
A wheelbarrow full of cashmeant nothing.
And then, just as the economybegan stabilizing under the
(04:46):
Weimar Republic, the U.S.
stock market crash of 1929 sentGermany spiraling again.
Unemployment soared.
Nearly 1 in 3 workers had nojob by 1932.
Businesses failed, bankscollapsed, hunger, homelessness,
and despair grew rampant.
The fragile Weimar democracyappeared weak and incapable of
(05:08):
fixing anything.
The Great Depression pushedunemployment to 30% in the early
1930s.
Desperation created the perfectstorm for what came next.
Now, to bring it back to today,while America didn't suffer
hyperinflation, economicinequality skyrocketed in the
last decades, especially.
2008's financial crash wipedout savings and homes.
(05:40):
Entire regions were hollowedout by NAFTA and globalizations.
The pandemic hit working classand marginalized communities
hardest.
Billionaires got richer,everyone else got scared.
And into that fear stepped aman who promised to bring back
coal, punish immigrants, and winfor the forgotten man.
Now going back to Germany, I'llpaint a picture that chillingly
(06:02):
echoes America and the rise ofTrump.
In Germany's climate of economicdevastation, loss of national
pride, rising political chaoswith street battles between
communist and far-right groups,and a lack of faith in
democratic institutions, peoplebecame desperate.
They didn't want slow reform.
(06:23):
They wanted strong leadership,certainty, blame, order.
The Weimar Republic wasdemocratic but slow, chaotic,
and fragile.
People grew tired ofinstability and infighting.
They didn't want nuance, theywanted strength.
Hitler and the Nazis offered aclear, authoritarian
alternative, and many Germansaccepted dictatorship if it
(06:46):
meant order.
Hitler promised it all (06:47):
jobs and economic recovery,
restoration of German pride, ascapegoat for the country's
suffering, Jews, communists,immigrants, and more, and a
return to traditional values.
The Nazis blamed Germany'sdecline on Jews, communists,
LGBTQIA plus people, thedisabled, anyone who wasn't part
(07:08):
of their narrow, pure vision ofthe fatherland.
They use propaganda todehumanize them, spread lies
about crime, disease, andcultural destruction.
MAGA's rhetoric has followed thesame exact playbook.
"Immigrants are invading!""Muslims are terrorists!" "Black
voters are fraudulent!" "Transpeople are groomers!"
(07:28):
"LGBTQIA plus teachers areindoctrinating kids!" The
strategy is old but effective.
Stoke fear of change, useidentity as a weapon, promise
purity, strength, and a returnto greatness.
Decades of gridlock,corruption, and inaction have
caused many Americans to losefaith in Congress, the courts,
(07:49):
and elections.
Trump positioned himself as theoutsider who would destroy the
deep state, drain the swamp, andend woke madness.
Some Americans, even centrists,said they'd trade democracy for
someone who gets things done.
This is how authoritarianismwins: by eroding faith in the
system slowly, then offering asavior.
(08:11):
When people are hungry,ashamed, and terrified of the
future, they become easy tomanipulate.
Hitler, Goebbels, and the NaziParty exploited this expertly.
They framed fascism aspatriotism.
They targeted emotion overlogic, fear, pride, rage.
They used national trauma tojustify authoritarian solutions.
(08:35):
And the terrifying part, manyGermans cheered.
They believed they were takingtheir country back.
They believed they wererestoring greatness.
Joseph Goebbels, Nazipropaganda minister, understood
the power of repetition andemotion.
"A lie told once remains a lie,but a lie told a thousand times
(08:56):
becomes the truth." Theycontrolled the radio, the
papers, the messaging, and toldGermans what to believe.
In America, enter Fox News,Sinclair Broadcasting, Right
Wing Radio, Social MediaAlgorithms, QAnon.
MAGA voters often exist in analternate reality.
They believe the election wasstolen.
(09:17):
Democrats are pedophiles.
Trump is a chosen savior.
And no fact can penetrate thatbecause the information
environment has been hijacked.
Now, just to clarify, the Nazisdidn't just win through
elections.
They weaponized paramilitaryforces, the SA and SS, used
police intimidation, arrestedopponents, and crushed dissent.
(09:38):
And here in America, from theProud Boys and Oathkeepers to
Trump using the National Guardsagainst protesters, we've seen
the rise of armed militiacosplay, Second Amendment
remedies, and open threatsagainst journalists, judges, and
lawmakers.
Now, Trump and allies openlyvow to purge the deep state, use
the DOJ for revenge, and endbirthright citizenship.
(10:01):
It's not hypothetical, it'sdeclared.
So why did so many commonpeople, the working class MAGA
base, fall for this?
Because just like Germany'spublic in the 1930s, they were
hurting economically.
They felt culturally abandoned.
They felt mocked by elites.
They were scared of the future,and they wanted easy answers
(10:21):
and someone to blame.
Instead of being lifted up bytruth, they were dragged down
further by lies.
Hitler didn't seize powerovernight.
He was normalized, he wasaccommodated.
And by the time enough peoplerealized what he was, it was too
late.
The same trajectory ishappening here.
We like to think we'd recognizefascism when we see it.
(10:43):
We tell ourselves we'd never bethe ones cheering while others
suffered, that we'd never fallfor the lies, that we're smarter
now, freer, safer.
But here's the truth.
History didn't just repeat.
It got bolder, it got flashier,louder, it learned to wear a
red hat and wave a flag whileholding the matchbook.
Many Americans still feelpuzzled by what happened in
(11:04):
Germany, like how it could havehappened and still believe it
could never happen here.
But it is, right now, and it'sworse.
In Nazi Germany, the crueltywas hidden, at least at first.
Here in America, it's broadcaston live TV.
People are cheering thesuffering.
They're clapping for cages.
They're defending AlligatorAlcatraz, a floating migrant
prison, or more accurately,concentration camp in the Gulf
(11:27):
of Mexico, where we literallysentence people to isolation and
trauma for daring to seeksafety.
We're setting up inhumaneprisons in other countries,
illegally deporting folks to whoknows where with no due
process.
And the worst part, they'restripping Americans of critical
benefits and coverage just to doit, with your tax dollars.
They're mocking the deaths ofbrown and black Americans
(11:48):
murdered in traffic stops, shotin their homes, and erased by
policy.
They cheer when books arebanned.
They laugh when folks livingalternative lifestyles are
ridiculed or worse, violentlyaccosted.
They scream freedom whilepledging loyalty to one man no
matter what he does.
And still, too many peopledon't see it.
Too many brush it off aspolitics.
(12:10):
Too many think they're safebecause they're not the ones in
the crosshairs yet.
But that's how it all starts.
And this time, it's notcreeping in the shadows.
It's marching down Main Street.
So if you're waiting for amoment more obvious than this,
there isn't one.
We're living in the pages ofthe history book right now.
And whether you're MAGA,moderate, or just minding your
(12:32):
own business, if you're notspeaking out, you're part of the
silence that enables the nextatrocity.
Because here's what historyalso teaches us.
It doesn't take a majority tocommit atrocities.
It just takes a passive publicand a loud enough cult willing
to do it in the daylight.
But there's still time, time towake up, to pay attention, to
(12:53):
speak louder than the hate, toresist with more than an eye
roll, to remember that being abystander is never neutral, it's
a choice.
This isn't about left or rightanymore.
This is about human or inhuman,about freedom or
authoritarianism, about truth orthe lie repeated a thousand
times.
So I leave you with this.
If you've ever said I wouldhave done something back then,
(13:13):
this IS the back then.
And what you do now matters.
This is Somebody Pinch Me.
I hope you're listening.
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