First, the infamous hate group leader Fuentes says the Heritage Foundation has mainstreamed his extremism, such that a large percentage of the White House staff have been compromised.

He’s saying clearly that “America First” is back in the White House again, which isn’t really news. However, people perhaps are starting to realize or remember why “America First” is seditious Nazism, which is the quiet part that wasn’t supposed to be said out loud.

Second, Fuentes warns if you call him a Nazi, then you are now facing his millions of Nazi followers (e.g. “America First”). He is announcing to fellow Nazis they no longer should worry about being labeled Nazis, since “America First” is even welcomed inside the Heritage Foundation to spread white nationalism.

Dr. Suess put it better, honestly.

Third, CNN discusses the Heritage Foundation role in normalizing Nazism, with receipts for the “Shitshow” of Fuentes.

And the following analysis perhaps does an even better job explaining.

None of this is really new, as I warned in January 2017…

What has changed since 2017 is a rapid escalation in 2025 from typical “100% American or go home” and “America First” hate rhetoric of the KKK, into openly praising Hitler and embracing Nazism.

Leaked chats have showed Hitler being praised and Nazism totally normalized by the GOP as the future of their platform, going beyond usual encoded “America First” rhetoric of the KKK.

Fuentes clearly is of the opinion, as he states in the videos above, that he personally has breached all walls stopping Nazism and the White House is totally compromised.

Consider, for example, the White House had constructed its East Wing in 1942 during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s administration to provide staff space to run the war against Hitler, including an underground bunker built for security.

It’s fundamental to American history of resilience and victory in WWII and thus hated by Nazis, given the symbolic role in Allied defeat of fascism. Now it has been targeted and literally destroyed by… Nazis running the White House.

Fuentes says with the Heritage Foundation backing that hate-filled destruction of democracy is here; Nazism has returned and reversed history, because “America First” has defeated and taken over the American government… as seen in ruthless and symbolic destruction of American executive office spaces that won WWII.

Building a huge meeting space on top of the rubble? That’s a classic Klavern move, as seen in headlines after the 1921 aerial fire bombing of Tulsa and mass murders by “America First”.

What to say about all this repeat of history? I’m reminded of Germans in Berlin who were known to sing subtle protest songs like this one in 1938, long before waves of Allied bombs started falling on their heads to get rid of Hitler:

Wir haben kein Speck, kein Fett, kein Ei,
Aber Hitler hat seine Reichskanzlei!

“We have no bacon, no fat, no eggs,
But Hitler has his State Ballroom!”

Along with digital-detox trends (dumb devices that make humans smart) comes the latest move against lazy negligence: harsh public criticism of ignorance.

Tourists apparently can’t get enough of the Düsseldorf Kunstpalast museum’s quick wit and sharp critiques, as its “performances” are completely sold out.

In spite of the rudeness, or perhaps because of it, the twice-monthly “Grumpy Guide” tour has been a surprise hit, with each one since the launch in May sold out. Anyone looking to book a spot will have to wait until next year.

“I never insult visitors directly, based on their personality or their appearance, but I insult them as a group,” said Carl Brandi, 33, the performance artist who conceived of and performs as the aggressive Langelinck. “My contempt is directed at an inferred ignorance that may not even exist. But I try to make them feel as ignorant as possible.”

The Grumpy Guide phenomenon shows Germans are up for a challenge, even comfortable to be called out on their ignorance – they’re paying to be told they don’t know enough and can do better. Germany is giving a glimpse into a future generation of thinkers, unafraid of learning history, who care about personal integrity.

This is a huge contrast with current American political winds of “know-nothingism”, platformed rejection of expertise for pride in mass ignorance. The recent American regurgitation of nativism rebranded MAGA wouldn’t stand a chance in Germany:

Museumsführer Joseph Langelinck: „Sie haben das Erinnerungsvermögen einer Schmeißfliege!“

Translation: “You have the memory of a fly!”

This is a particularly biting insult, given Germany’s national commitment to science and staying “woke” (Vergangenheitsbewältigung) and never forgetting its own history.

Ihr Bratzen habt doch keine Ahnung!

Translation: “You brats have no idea!”

Compare and contrast:

A – Germany: People flock to experts telling them they’re ignorant, laugh at it, and dive into learning – remembering the 1930s when anti-intellectuals burned books and murdered experts.

This particular museum “lost” over 1,000 artworks during Nazism—the third worst-affected museum in Germany—and hosted the 1938 “Degenerate Music” exhibition to mock and destroy culture. Its collection was nearly eradicated by ignorance as complicity. Now it’s the venue where Germans pay to be challenged intellectually, to be called ignorant, and to dive into preservation and learning.

B – America: MAGA actively cultivates hostility toward experts, celebrates anti-intellectualism, and campaigns against “fancy education” – forgetting (or worse, admiring) these patterns in history.

Book banning in the US has surged in the past few years, fueled by conservative backlash…”What we’re seeing right now mirrors elements of different historical periods, but this has never all happened at once,” Jonathan Friedman, Sy Syms managing director for US free expression programs at PEN America, said. […] PEN America has tracked more than 10,000 public school book bans in the 2023-2024 school year alone.

Societies either learn from or repeat their worst moments.

Germany chose learning, and is enjoying the challenge. The same museum that lost its collection to anti-intellectual rage is now profiting from intellectual rigor. That’s not just irony—it’s proof of concept. Germany chose differently, and it’s working.

America, stuck in repeat, is in the doom spiral of fear-addled book banning and anti-intellectual rage.

Related: ACTS 17 preacher Peter Thiel’s company Palantir tells American kids to skip higher education and lower their aim; offering them a job if they can swallow four weeks of “Western Civilization” shock doctrine.

Politico has a detailed investigation of the “Young Republicans” in America, based on leaked chat messages like these.

Current reporting of a secret Republican platform (e.g. “invisible empire”) sounds very familiar to me, as a disinformation historian.

They referred to Black people as monkeys and “the watermelon people” and mused about putting their political opponents in gas chambers. They talked about raping their enemies and driving them to suicide and lauded Republicans who they believed support slavery.

How familiar? I present the canonical Ronald Reagan example.

The Young Republicans knew exactly what they were doing:

“If we ever had a leak of this chat we would be cooked fr fr” heart emoji

They understood the content was genuinely extreme, not actually funny.

The “joke” framing was explicitly strategic cover using information warfare tactics, camouflage.

The dangerous tell:

When something appears over 251 times in chats, with specific known violent hate symbols (1488), and includes detailed policy discussions interwoven with the “jokes,” it stops being humor and becomes domestic terrorist ideology with a thin comedic veneer.

The jester’s protection only works when everyone knows it’s performance. What happens when the jester starts believing their own act, and then acting on their beliefs?

Giunta wrote “everyone that votes no is going to the gas chamber” while actually running a political campaign. That means he made an articulated threat wrapped in historical genocide imagery, for use as an organizing tool.

JD Vance, the Vice President and known for being a “disciple” of the ACTS 17 (Nazism) extremist preacher Peter Thiel, has waded into the topic by deflecting from and minimizing Republican love of Hitler.

When the second-highest elected official provides cover for “I love Hitler” and gas chamber jokes by labeling it all as mere “college” banter, the performance has become a policy position. The trajectory has obvious historical precedents.

The hypocrisy about Nazism is stark:

Vance spent years characterizing campus speech as dangerous indoctrination requiring “aggressive attack,” even titling a 2021 speech “The Universities Are the Enemy.”

Vance specifically characterized universities as dangerous places that “indoctrinate students” with “political orthodoxy” and said they peddle “deceit and lies.” Vance quoted Richard Nixon’s line “The professors are the enemy” approvingly, stating there was “wisdom” in Nixon’s words.

Yet when Young Republican leaders – including government officials and state legislators – express explicit support for Hitler and make threats about gas chambers, Vance suddenly claims everyone should dismiss it because it is… wait for it… normal “college group chat”.

Apparently to the Vice President, discussing any opposition to Nazism on campus constitutes to him dangerous indoctrination worthy of “aggressive attack,” while those expressing extreme support for Hitler and threatening political opponents with execution by gas chamber are engaged in harmless college “humor.”

What’s the historical outcome when leadership actively protects, rather than condemns, organized imminent extremist violence in discourse?

• Weimar Germany (1920s-30s): Leadership initially dismissed Nazi rhetoric as fringe or protected it as “free speech”, enabling genocide
• Rwanda (early 1990s): Radio stations normalized dehumanizing language; political leadership either participated or stayed silent, enabling genocide
• Former Yugoslavia (1980s-90s): Nationalist leaders used historical grievances and ethnic dehumanization in “joking” contexts before committing genocide

American courts have long recognized that speech itself can constitute actionable harm when it incites imminent lawless action (Brandenburg v. Ohio), communicates true threats (Virginia v. Black), or inflicts injury by its very utterance (Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire).

The Young Republicans’ messages are explicit threats against specific political targets, combined with organizing capacity and historical genocide imagery.

They very clearly meet the legal thresholds.