Trump has turned MAGA into a modern day Neo-Nazi movement

This is not hyperbolic--it's reality.

"I think that the [GOP] electorate is not looking for less blood. I think they're looking for more blood…I am telling you what the reality on the ground is."

Those bone-chilling words were uttered Sunday on ABC’s This Week by former RNC chair/former Trump chief of staff Reince Priebus when asked about Donald Trump’s comments at his rally Saturday when he again quoted Adolph Hitler’s infamous phrase that certain people are “poisoning the blood” of the nation.

Priebus words on ABC were even more jarring because they weren’t said in anger. They were stated in a matter-of-fact way.  And when there was pushback on his comment that the GOP base is “looking for more blood,” that is when Priebus calmly responded that MAGA’s lust for blood is simply “the reality on the ground.” We must believe Priebus.

No one knows Trump’s base better than him—and they love him for it.  He knows they want blood. He knows they love when he spews Nazi propaganda and when he praises dictators.  In fact, at his rally Saturday, he did both.

It’s truly challenging to know if Trump has turned MAGA into a full-blown modern day Neo-Nazi movement or if he is following their lead. But this is where they are.

As a reminder, in October, when Trump first used the unique phrase of “poisoning the blood” of our nation, it sparked a massive media backlash. Experts, the media and organizations that fight bigotry correctly noted that Trump is invoking Hitler’s language in “Mein Kampf” where he links “the poison which has invaded the national body” to an “influx of foreign blood.”

As the Washington Post noted at the time, “Hitler in “Mein Kampf,” employing a more explicit construct, repeatedly cited the danger of German blood being poisoned by Jews.”  They explained that Hitler wrote that, “All the great civilizations of the past became decadent because the originally creative race died out, as a result of contamination of the blood.”  Hitler added, “this poison was allowed to enter the national bloodstream and infect public life without the Government taking any effectual measures to master the course of the disease.”

Trump has simply tweaked Hitler’s language to change the target from Jews to immigrants, but make no mistake, Trump is intentionally echoing Hitler.  If what he said in October was a mistake or the backlash concerned Trump, he would’ve dropped the language.

But instead,  Trump repeated the Nazi propaganda at his rally Saturday telling his loyal followers that “they” let in millions of immigrants to the country. That is when Trump added alarmingly, “They’re poisoning the blood of our country.” The 2024 GOP presidential frontrunner continued, “They poison mental institutions and prisons all over the world, not just in South America, not just to three or four countries that we think about, but all over the world. They’re coming into our country from Africa, from Asia, all over the world.”

After the rally, Trump repeated on social media that immigrants coming “from all over the world” are “poisoning the blood of our nation.”

Come Monday morning, Fox News defended Trump’s use of Nazi propaganda with morning show co-host Brian Kilmeade saying that Trump was simply saying “He’s just trying to say we want to keep America, America.” Was Kilmeade unaware that he, too, was also echoing Hitler’s famous call to make “a Germany for Germans”?!

On Sunday, Trump uber ally/GOP Senator Lindsey Graham did his best to help normalize Trump’s use of Nazi propaganda, saying in an interview on NBC News’ Meet the Press: “We’re talking about language. I could care less what language people use as long as we get it right.”  

In reality, we know words matter. And they especially matter when utilized by Trump who has a history of inciting violence by his supporters simply with his words.  Trump has since Jan 6, consistently defended his supporters who waged the attack on our Capitol. He has even pledged to pardon them—which must be seen as an effort to incentivize others to commit violence on his behalf in the future, knowing if Trump wins in 2024, he will swiftly pardon them.

In fact, one alarming moment at Saturday’s rally that didn’t get much press is when in a choreographed portion of his speech, Trump defended the Jan 6 terrorists, saying, “When people who love our country protest in Washington, they become hostages unfairly imprisoned for long periods of time.”  As he uttered those words, Trump was “backed by swelling music.”  

Again this conjures up Hitler’s praise and elevation of those who sacrificed on behalf in his rise to power from Horst Wessel—who was killed allegedly by anti-Nazi activists—to those who waged Hitler’s failed 1923 coup known as the “Beer Hall Putsch.” Hitler even utilized a flag that had been stained with blood during the putsch as a symbol of Nazi ideology, calling it a “Blutfahne,” or blood flag, to consecrate all new Nazi banners and flags. (How long until Trump starts using the blood-stained flags from Jan 6 as symbols for his rallies?!)

On Saturday, Trump—as he had done for years—praised dictators who he admires. Trump told his cheering supporters, that “Viktor Orbán, the highly respected prime minister of Hungary said Trump is the man who can save the western world.”

Orban, as Human Rights Watch noted, is a white nationalist who has “hijacked public institutions, attacked the independence of courts, and left almost no independent media standing.” He had banned same sex marriages, demonized the LGBT community and especially targeted migrants.  Orbán has also “tinkered with the electoral laws to the point that his party needs less than a simple majority of the vote for him to rule with a majority in parliament, and thereby to continue gutting Hungary’s democracy.” In other words, he has done what Trump and the GOP have been working to do here in the United States.

Trump later in his speech on Saturday touted his relationship with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, “who is very nice” and quoted Vladimir Putin’s claim that Trump’s criminal prosecution is simply political persecution.

Again, Trump and his base love these authoritarian leaders for their limiting of free speech that they don’t agree with, their white supremacy, ruling with an iron fist, etc. That is why Trump repeats his praise for them and why his supporters cheer at rally after rally.  

In response to Trump’s words at his rally, the Biden campaign hit back quickly on Saturday night  with a statement that read: “Tonight Donald Trump channeled his role models as he parroted Adolf Hitler, praised Kim Jong Un, and quoted Vladimir Putin while running for president on a promise to rule as a dictator and threaten American democracy.”

That is a good statement. But President Biden and his campaign must do much, much more to raise alarm bells about the threat Trump poses to his nation.

We are now dangerously confronted with a movement headed by a man who repeatedly quotes Nazi propaganda, praises dictators, incited and defends violence together with a MAGA base that is “looking for more blood.” At this point, calling MAGA a modern-day Neo-Nazi movement is no longer hyperbolic. It’s the frightening reality we are faced with in our nation.

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