TAT readers,
Hold onto your hat because today’s essay will be startling to most Americans, but is well-grounded in US, Nazi and partially world history. The current Republican Party is operating on a Project 2025 inspired WW II Nazi Germany term called Gleichschaltung, or in English, the process of the Nazification of Germany in the years leading up to WW II. Today I will try and connect the dots in a way that helps readers understand the connection between Nazification, Eugenics and parts of the Republican blueprint established in Project 2025. No, I’m not crazy and this is no conspiracy theory. Eugenics is a topic quietly discussed if discussed at all, simply because it is so vile, that they are terrified that we all will better understand. They are correct in that yes, connecting the dots can seem a bit confusing and difficult to follow. Herein is my challenge, to connect the dots in a way that is easier to follow.
Before beginning, I’ll add quick anonymous thank you to a former military friend and colleague, who is also a brilliant scholar of history and influence operations. It was he that triggered my memory, reminding me that Nazification was English for Gleichschaltung. I will not mention his name here for professional privacy reasons, but should he read this essay, he will understand that I am thanking him. I have zero aptitude for the German language and often can’t even remember the other languages I have spoken in my life other than English. I guess my brain just isn’t wired that way. One last administrative note is that, this will be my last essay until late next week. I have an opportunity to spend time with grandchildren for a few days… and that comes first.
Gleichschaltung Definition: A German term meaning "coordination" or "bringing into line," referring to the Nazi policy of establishing total control over all aspects of German society by eliminating independent institutions and forcing conformity to Nazi ideology. Literally translates to "switching to the same" or "making equal." Historical Context Gleichschaltung was implemented by the Nazi Party between 1933 and 1935 to systematically eliminate political opposition and transform German society into a totalitarian state. This process involved: Dissolving independent trade unions and political parties Taking control of state governments Coordinating cultural and educational institutions Establishing Nazi control over professional associations Forcing compliance with Nazi ideology across all sectors of society The term represents one of the key mechanisms by which the Nazi regime consolidated power and eliminated democratic institutions in Germany. - Gleichschaltung
In respect to today’s essay, we’ll first look at how Eugenics evolved from it’s shaky science roots and became the justification for the deviant extermination of millions of minorities, most prominently, six million Jews during the Holocaust. When Hitler wrote Mein Kampf, published in two volumes in 1924-1925, He would proudly assert that he had used a 1924 US law called, strategy for creating his intended, master race. That US law was, The U.S. Immigration Restriction Act of 1924. This US law was an outgrowth of the prevailing political trends of the time, which fully embraced the false science of believing that people of color, eastern Europeans and Jews etc., were racially inferior. Even big names like the prestigious Henry Cabot Lodge, Margaret Sanger and Madison Grant were worried about “racial suicide.” If this sounds like the talking points of today’s GOP, it’s because it is and the historical roots are easily traced.
Over the decades, various forms of this anti-immigrant bigotry has reared it’s ugly head across our nation, often leading to transformative eras like the zenith of the KKK, the Civil Rights Movement, the extermination of and oppression of our indigenous populations, to name but a few. The pseudoscience of Eugenics, based on anti-immigrant bias and racism, underpinned all that followed in one way or another. Even today, the administration’s embrace of pushing AI before it’s safe, is just one more data point among many of the GOP’s willingness to allow citizens to die, rather than invest in us. The lethal virus of bigotry, has never been entirely absent from our nation, and when it does rear its ugly head, violence and death follows. Leaders at home and abroad embraced Eugenics as the justification for curating their own domestic populations into homogenous ethnicities, most often white and Christian at the expense of all others. The Nazi party took Eugenics to a whole other level with the Holocaust.
Thanks for reading this far through the historical background. The Republican party endorses and enables every un-American and deeply unconstitutional element of Project 2025. P2025, is very much in line with the process of Nazification in Germany. The intent is the same, take control of every aspect of our government and society and impose extreme right wing ideology, which I have labeled, The four horsemen of the MAGA Apocalypse: Autocracy, Oligarchy, Christian Nationalism and Political Violence. P2025 becomes like the old saying, “if it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.” The Republican agenda then is nearly the same as Nazification. This is not by accident. The five bullet points below are from Nazification policy of 1933 Germany under Hitler and the Nazi Party. This is roughly synonymous with what P2025 states. The evidence can been seen in our daily headlines from reputable press along with comparisons between Hitler and the Nazi Party agenda, with today’s Project 2025.
First, how did Hitler and his thugs take over Germany so rapidly? Below are some of the highlights. P2025 comparisons can be found in the links below the Nazification highlights.
"Adolf Hitler was appointed chancellor of Germany on January 30, 1933, and soon brought an end to German democracy. Guided by racist and authoritarian ideas, the Nazis abolished basic freedoms and sought to create a "Volk" community. In theory, a "Volk" community united all social classes and regions of Germany behind Hitler. In reality, the Third Reich quickly became a police state, where individuals were subject to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment. On February 27, 1933, the Reichstag (German Parliament) building was destroyed by fire. Hitler used this incident to assume extraordinary powers in Germany. Constitutionally protected personal freedoms were suspended. In March, Hitler introduced a bill that would give his government the authority to make laws without submitting them for a vote in the Reichstag. The bill, called “The Enabling Act,” passed in part because many of Hitler’s opponents had been arrested and could not vote. In the first months of his chancellorship, Hitler began a concerted policy of "synchronization," forcing organizations, political parties, and state governments into line with Nazi goals and placing them under Nazi leadership. Culture, the economy, education, and law came under greater Nazi control. Trade unions were abolished and workers, employees, and employers were forced into Nazi organizations. The Nazi Party became the only political party permitted in Germany. The Reichstag became a rubber stamp for Hitler's dictatorship. Hitler’s will became the foundation for government policy. The appointment of Nazi Party members to government positions increased Hitler's authority over state officials. A purge of the Storm Trooper (SA) leadership and other supposed opponents, known as the “Night of the Long Knives,” won Hitler greater support from the army. According to the Nazi Party's leadership principle, authority flowed down from above and absolute obedience towards one's superior was expected at each level of the Nazi hierarchy. On August 2, 1934, President Hindenburg died. Hitler was the leader of the Third Reich." - Nazi rule - Holocaust Encyclopedia - Author(s): United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC - Last Edited: Sep 16, 2026
A close read of the history above should make it clear that P2025’s application, shows little difference from Nazi policy in the first year or two of Nazi rule in Germany. Most Nazi policy of the Nazification era was less adamant about mass murder but it was implied strongly and then carried out far more excessively than implied. P2025 is no different.
Project 2025’s Plan for Criminal Justice Under Trump | Brennan Center for Justice
The Top 5 Ways Project 2025 Would Hurt Disabled People - Center for American Progress
37 ways Project 2025 has shown up in Trump’s executive orders
Project 2025 November 19th Update - Global Project Against Hate and Extremism
So here’s the logic trail; Nazification is the calculated strategy that Hitler and the nascent Nazi Party used to take complete control of pre-WW II Germany between 1933 and 1935. There are powerful and intentional similarities between the Nazi strategy and the Project 2025 strategy being wielded by the Trump administration and enabled by a cowering Republican-led congress. It is also mostly ignored by our current bevy of tepid mainstream news outlets. Eugenics was the extension of Nazification. Eugenics, a populist pseudoscience beginning in the late 1870s by Sir Francis Galton, cousin to Charles Darwin, the author of the life-changing theories of evolution. Eugenics and worst would be reborn again and again throughout our modern history, with the Trump administration resurrecting it in their ideology and for use against first immigrants and then any other American that provokes his ire. The is especially true when it comes to minorities, and all that they target as DEI. Eugenics as practiced in pre-war Germany is little different from what the Trump administration is seeking to do; by eliminating all those they consider defective and unable to produce anything they value for the state. RFK Jr. is also contributing to eugenics by breathing life into old, beaten diseases, by way of his anti-science guidance at HHS.
There is ample evidence in administration Executive orders, the Big Ugly Bill and in the way sycophantic Cabinet secretaries go about their jobs. That disgraceful Secretary of Defense (the legal title) has purged nearly all accomplishments from the Pentagon, historical records and even from recognition in national cemeteries like Arlington National Cemetery. Trump truly does believe us to be “losers and suckers” who cannot help his overthrow of our government because they are dead. They are literally trying to kill those of us who are poor, unhealthy, old and undesirable, such as the homeless, genetically impaired or that they feel are incapable of living and producing for the country. In fact, this last piece sounds more like socialism than anything they accuse the left of. Then there is the GOP’s intention to take “guardianship” of homeless Americans including veterans, and lock them away.
In 1907, Indiana passed the first US “sterilization law” eventually sterilizing 2,500 Indianans. Sterilizing minorities, the mentally disabled, those with alleged hereditary illnesses or syndromes was the purpose of the law. Again, during this phase of our history, Eugenics was fairly popular in the same way as the current adminstration treats DEI. Those DEI citizens should this administration continue down their current path, will continue being targeted for whatever reason that a complicit GOP-led Congress would decide.
"By late 1800s, Indiana authorities believed criminality, mental problems, and pauperism were hereditary. Various laws were enacted based on this belief. In 1907, Governor J. Frank Hanly approved first state eugenics law making sterilization mandatory for certain individuals in state custody. Sterilizations halted 1909 by Governor Thomas R. Marshall Indiana Sup.reme Court ruled 1907 law unconstitutional 1921, citing denial of due process under Fourteenth Amendment. 1927 law reinstated sterilization, adding court appeals. Approximately 2,500 total in state custody were sterilized. Governor Otis R. Bowen approved repeal of all sterilization laws 1974; by 1977, related restrictive marriage laws repealed." - 1907 Indiana Eugenics Law - Indiana Historical Bureau
Eugenics was not alone. By 1970 when most laws were revoked, some sixty-thousand Americans had been involuntarily sterilized. Germany took the next step after a handful of pre-war years operating mostly on sterilizations. By 1939, Germany would begin with gassing these victims rather than sterilizing them. Within another year, all non-ethnically pure Germans would be fed into the extermination pipelines. It is estimated that between Germany and their collaborators would mass murder approximately 17 million human beings, nearly all falling into the categories named in Eugenics programs.
The Big Picture: "- Eugenics is the scientifically inaccurate theory that humans can be improved through selective breeding of populations. - Eugenicists believed in a prejudiced and incorrect understanding of Mendelian genetics that claimed abstract human qualities (e.g., intelligence and social behaviors) were inherited in a simple fashion. Similarly, they believed complex diseases and disorders were solely the outcome of genetic inheritance. - The implementation of eugenics practices has caused widespread harm, particularly to populations that are being marginalized. - Eugenics is not a fringe movement. Starting in the late 1800s, leaders and intellectuals worldwide perpetuated eugenic beliefs and policies based on common racist and xenophobic attitudes. Many of these beliefs and policies still exist in the United States. - The genomics communities continue to work to scientifically debunk eugenic myths and combat modern-day manifestations of eugenics and scientific racism, particularly as they affect people of color, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ individuals." - Eugenics and Scientific Racism - National Human Genome Research Institute
At first, the GOP lied and said they didn’t know about or would never pursue a P2025 strategy, just as Trump did. They have not deviated from its strategy one time since returning to office. Russell Vought of the Heritage Foundation, the publisher of P2025 and the Darth Vader of both P2025 and now the OMB, Office of Management and Budget, is soulless. The administration’s actions scream loud an clear, that they do not care at all, if non-white, non-Christian Nationalists die either at home or abroad. Let’s look at an example or so.
The immoral and illegal DOGE activities have already caused hundreds of thousands of deaths overseas by slashing 83% of USAID programs. The projections for this first year are horrifying.
To support my claims, I now refer you to a relatively new program devised by Brooke Nichols, an Associate Professor of Global Health at Boston University. Her program, is a new digital tracking initiative, that helps “calculate the expected impact of several other diseases that USAID targets.” and includes the program’s Impact-Counter, “a real-time digital tracking website that Nichols utilizes to quantify the real-world human impact, of the recent US policy changes on humanitarian aid.” Source: Tracking Anticipated Deaths from USAID Funding Cuts | SPH. I wrote on this topic in detail back in March.
I encourage everyone to browse the data dashboards from these two expert academics. There are two, one for domestic impacts and one for non-US impacts. The number of deaths already caused and projected over the next years is staggering. It lists the programs canceled and the human impact of those cancelations. In my lay legal mind, I would call the administration’s actions, criminally negligent, up to and including murder, but that’s just me.
The slashing of healthcare benefits and the administration enabled price-gouging by Healthcare oligarchies, is a serious threat to the health and lives of our family, friends, neighbors and communities. This program also grades the administration on their performance. See below for the painful grades.
In short, this administration and with a complicit Republican-led congress, are intentionally killing and putting millions at risk. At least several hundred thousand are dead overseas after a no-warning slashing of USAID projects. Several hundred thousand Americans dies from COVID due to the lies told by the Republican Party, the White House, along with FOX News and their ilk. Now with losses to healthcare in the millions due to the Big Ugly Bill and Trump’s first administration, roughly 12 million Americans have lost their healthcare or will shortly, and those who still have it are being priced-gouged into submission. Republicans have never met an oligarchy they didn’t like or profit from. Healthcare is one of the worst. It should frighten all of them after the Luigi Mangione killing of a corrupt healthcare CEO.
This already long and dense essay must come to a close and I will attempt to offer a relatively short summary of today’s essay; 1. a history lesson that paints a clear picture of the relationship of Trump and the Republicans dedication to the immoral, unconstitutional and often illegal actions while holding office, and 2. to encourage you to consider the potential threat to yourselves and others. Those actions are costing and will cost millions their lives, not to mention a poor quality of life prior to passing on. Whether you listen to doctors, other healthcare professionals or honest healthcare analysts, we are narrowing the field for who can access healthcare and how long they will be able to afford it. Not one major Healthcare entity gives a damn about us. Their only interest is in their profits, regardless of what happens to us.
Then, our overseas aggression in illegal and destructive wars are costing more lives. Today we learned that the administration continues to lie about how many casualties we’ve suffered, both dead and wounded. Most of our wars and mini-wars, are at the behest of big oil. We never have gotten an honest reason for wielding our military against others. Denying or over-pricing healthcare with lesser benefits, is killing more Americans. Trump and the GOP killed hundreds of thousands by lying about vaccines, masks, transmission types and far more. FOX News lied about all of the same, while demanding their employees be vaccinated. Not one Republican told the truth then, or now.
Illegally deporting innocent human beings to nations they have never known or to other countries entirely, costs more lives. ICE, CBP and other Executive Branch alleged law enforcement even murder legally protesting American citizens in the streets without repercussion. RFK Jr’s bizarre anti-science approach to US health would be laughable, if he hadn’t already enabled the resurgence of long managed illnesses, like measles. Today’s Republicans truly do not care if we live or die, so long as they can profit handsomely from their actions. Last but not least, the GOP’s favorite oligarchs who fund and enable them, also censor media that criticizes the White House and elected GOP politicians.
Both Nazification and this Trump administration began with a coup that took the reins of our government, just as Hitler and the Nazi party did in 1933. Even then, most of the world said not to worry, the Nazi’s would never go so far as moving from sterilization to genocide. Those who believe this current GOP administration are fools. Trump has long admired Hitler. He adores Putin, Kim Jong Un, Javier Milei and most other brutal leaders who act as he does. He’s not the whole problem though. It’s no secret that he has no serious intellect. Bullying is his only negotiation tactic, and even it is mafiaesque in approach. If our nation and its people are to survive, we must clean out the whole lot of them, beginning with every sitting Republican in Congress up for election in November. They aren’t just selling out America… they are selling out the lives of anyone that doesn’t fit their racist, submissive and White Christian Nationalist mold.
I realize that this is somber reading for the weekend. Still, it’s a lot to consider since this content is not often discussed in our news feeds. It may take a minute or so to sink in. I do hope that you will look at and ponder not just the written content, but the links as well.
Wishing everyone peace, joy and strength for the weekend.
Paul