Loomer, Trump, Nazis and Lessons from History: Why Time Perspective Matters

Maciej Lesiak

April 5, 2025 - 11 minutes read - 2151 words

Ten artykuł jest dostępny również po polsku:
Loomer, Trump, naziści i lekcje z historii: dlaczego perspektywa czasowa ma znaczenie

What's in this article

On my bookshelf, I have Julia Boyd’s “Travellers in the Third Reich.” It’s a fascinating read that shows how average tourists, students, and diplomats perceived Nazi Germany in the 1930s. In their accounts, pre-war Germany often appears as a country of order, clean streets, bustling beer gardens, and friendly residents. A country of philosophers, poets, and great composers. Few visitors noticed the ominous signs of the coming nightmare.

Boyd quotes memories of a British teenager for whom Germany was a “paradise,” as well as pragmatic parents who, despite “hating Hitler” and “despising the idea of the master race,” sent their children there because “the exchange rate was good.” This reminds us of a mechanism that often recurs in history—the normalization of extremism and the difficulty of recognizing dangers in the early stages of authoritarian regimes.

Reading these accounts, I can’t help feeling that we’re observing a similar process today, but in the USA. Recent reports about Laura Loomer’s influence on the Trump administration’s decisions, including the dismissal of the NSA director and other national security officials, raise concerns not only because of the immediate consequences but also because of the historical analogies they evoke.

Next to Boyd’s book, I have a two-volume German book published in 1936, one of the first to include photographs from photojournalists, commemorating the Berlin Olympics. The idyllic atmosphere of the sporting event doesn’t indicate the coming catastrophe. And yet, by then, the KL Dachau camp, established in 1933 near Munich, was already operating. It served to isolate opponents of the Nazi regime (communists), clergy, Jews, and homosexuals. This “training center” was the model for other concentration camps. Of course, initially, there was no talk of extermination. Selection was carried out through harsh camp conditions.

Why the MAGA Analogy to the Third Reich is Justified

Before examining specific mechanisms, it’s worth explaining why I’m drawing an analogy to Nazi Germany, despite its emotional weight and risk of provoking objection. This is not a rhetorical device or an attempt at dramatization. It is a necessary analytical tool to understand the nature of the threat to democracy.

The history of the Third Reich provides us with the most complete and well-documented case of democracy’s transformation into authoritarianism in a modern, developed country. That’s precisely why it serves as an inevitable reference point for analyzing similar processes. This comparison is not intended to attribute Nazi crimes to the current administration or, as some publicists would have it, to hyperbolize their negative image, but to identify similar institutional and propaganda mechanisms that enabled later atrocities.

Contrary to popular opinion, historical analogies don’t serve to claim that history will repeat itself exactly. Rather, they function as an early warning system, allowing us to recognize dangerous patterns before they lead to catastrophic consequences. That’s why, despite its weight, this analogy is not only justified but essential for understanding the seriousness of the current situation.

The Influence of Individuals on Shaping Extremist Politics

The history of the Third Reich teaches us that the road to totalitarianism doesn’t begin with mass crimes. It starts with the systematic introduction of radical ideologues into the center of power, who gradually transform institutions and normalize extremism. I’ve already written about Trump’s mass pardoning of extremists. Similar to Julius Streicher, publisher of the anti-Semitic newspaper “Der Stürmer,” Loomer uses provocative rhetoric, conspiracy theories, and attacks on minorities to stoke fears and build support for a radical agenda.

It’s significant that in the early years of Nazi rule, many observers underestimated the possible consequences, focusing on current events rather than the trajectory these events were setting. Loomer and conspiracy theorists give vector to these changes, which I believe escapes observers.

The “They Haven’t Killed Anyone” Argument – Time Perspective

When Elon Musk (during Joe Rogan’s podcast) and other defenders of the radical right argue that comparisons to the Third Reich are inadequate because “Nazis killed millions of people, and MAGA supporters haven’t killed anyone,” they are making a fundamental error of ignoring the time perspective. Elon Musk reduces the discussion to absurdity by discussing his Heil Hitler gesture. But that’s not the point here.

Nazi Germany didn’t start with the Holocaust. It began with:

Introducing loyal ideologues to key positions,
Attacking “disloyal” individuals in state administration,
Rejecting the humiliations of the Treaty of Versailles,
Using conspiracy theories to mobilize supporters,
Discrediting media as “enemies of the people,”
Undermining democratic institutions.

Mass crimes were the result of these processes, not their beginning.

Project Veritas and Loomer’s Role in Manipulating Public Opinion

Before examining Loomer’s direct influence on the Trump administration, it’s worth noting her earlier activity with Project Veritas – an organization that uses techniques similar to those employed by the Third Reich’s propaganda ministry. Project Veritas, founded by James O’Keefe, specializes in hidden camera recordings that are selectively edited to present political opponents in a negative light.

Loomer, who worked for Project Veritas, participated in operations aimed at infiltrating and discrediting left-wing organizations and mainstream media. These techniques resemble methods used by Joseph Goebbels (the 40/60 technique, which I often discuss on my blog), who, as the Third Reich’s propaganda minister, used manipulated information and “revelations” of alleged conspiracies to mobilize support for Nazi ideology.

Currently, Loomer hosts her own program, “Loomer Unleashed,” on the Rumble platform. This is an alternative to YouTube that has gained popularity among far-right content creators because it lacks political correctness and “woke” moderation. Rumble, which advertises itself as a defender of “free speech,” allows Loomer to spread her controversial views without risk of “removal” or “silencing,” as happened with her Twitter and Facebook accounts. This mechanism of creating alternative information channels, free from fact-checking and ethical standards, resembles how Nazi propaganda built its own channels of communication isolated from reality.

Similar to the propaganda ministry in Nazi Germany, Project Veritas doesn’t so much discover truth as create an alternative reality – a world in which political opponents are portrayed as criminals, traitors, or agents of foreign powers. This is exactly the same method used in Germany in the 1930s, when political opponents and minority groups were systematically demonized.

Loomer as a Symptom of Systemic Threat

Laura Loomer, whose influence on the president is disproportionate to her competence, represents this dangerous trend – when radical ideology replaces meritocracy. Her anti-Islamic views, promotion of conspiracy theories (including the claim that “9/11 was an inside job!”), and racist comments about Kamala Harris are disturbingly similar to the dehumanizing rhetoric used by Third Reich propagandists.

Currently, particularly concerning is how Loomer manipulates sensitive data. She selectively publishes personal information about her political opponents, fueling hate campaigns and organizing provocations aimed at compromising public figures. Such actions resemble tactics used by Nazi propaganda, which used information taken out of context to destroy political opponents’ reputations.

It’s worth, really worth, examining the figures of the MAGA movement who have such great impact that, as people publicly expressing such extreme views, they can influence the staffing of key national security positions. Isn’t this a warning that goes beyond individual staffing decisions? Especially since we have an entire series of similar events. Loomer is an element in the MAGA puzzle.

Mechanisms of Democracy’s Transformation into Authoritarianism

Let’s return to Nazi Germany. Because in my opinion, what we observe today in the form of Loomer’s and similar activists’ influence on politics resembles the early stage of the process that led to the Weimar Republic’s fall. In Germany in the 1920s and early 1930s, Nazi propaganda not only spread lies and conspiracy theories but also systematically built an alternative information reality in which democratic institutions were portrayed as corrupt and acting against the nation’s interests. Currently, we’re dealing with a similar phenomenon in the USA, with the difference being that the post-World War II political system is being dismantled and, as MAGA circles call it, corrupt democracy, to create a better system for Americans.

What is particularly concerning is that Loomer’s influence on the Trump administration manifests not only through advisory roles but also through public intimidation of critics and mobilizing MAGA supporters against alleged “traitors.” Her posts on platform X often set the direction for narratives that Trump later adopts, similar to how Nazi newspapers set topics that party officials later took up. We’re only missing videos with rats-Democrats, though it’s not excluded that Elon Musk has already boosted or published something like this from the profiles of Loomer-like influencers.

Meanwhile, Americans live as if nothing bad is happening. Not so long ago, everyone was having fun watching Kendrick Lamar perform at the 2025 Super Bowl LIX halftime show, and Elon Musk is planning how to reach Mars while making cuts. The climate is exactly like during the 1936 Olympics, when despite the radicalization of Germans and Hitler’s extreme rhetoric, 4,099 athletes from 49 countries competed.

Time Perspective: Recognizing Threats Before It’s Too Late

I am not a Nazi […] what’s relevant about Nazis is like are you like invading Poland okay um and if you’re not if you’re not like invading Poland maybe you’re not […] like you have to be like committing genocide and like starting Wars and if if you’re if you’re if you’re not like what is actually what is bad about Nazis it’s not their wasn’t their fashion sense or their mannerisms it the Holocaust it was the the war and genocide is what is the bad part um not their mannerisms and their dress code Joe Rogan Experience #2281 - Elon Musk

Let’s return to Elon’s argument that “they haven’t killed millions of people yet.” You can see now that such a perspective completely misses the essence of warnings from history. Precisely because we have historical precedents, we can and should react before the worst scenarios materialize. Waiting until mass casualties appear to recognize a threat as real means repeating the mistakes of the 20th century. Already, the safeguards are being dismantled. Trump criticizes the UN, NATO, allies. At the same time, he winks at people like Putin, who are responsible for war crimes.

Democratic institutions don’t collapse in a single moment. They erode gradually when society allows the normalization of extremism and undermining of the rule of law. Of course, the weak and hypocritical US elites themselves contributed to reaching such extremes. However, Loomer’s influence on national security decisions and key positions staffing is a disturbing step in this process. If a person from “X” can fire a general in charge of cybersecurity and heading the NSA, it resembles the initial stage of power consolidation by the Nazis, when they systematically placed their loyalists in key positions.

The history of the Third Reich shows that control over information flow was the foundation of Nazi power. Goebbels understood that whoever controls the narrative shapes reality. Loomer operates according to a similar logic, as does Elon Musk – they create and spread selectively edited “truths” designed to undermine trust in democratic institutions. If we remove authorities and values, such loud celebrities will dictate what is allowed and what is not. Later, there will only be a collective amnesia of the nation, claiming “it wasn’t us, it was that person from X”… but who commented on it, liked it, shared it, or remained silent as people were destroyed?

Conclusions: Learning from History

Laura Loomer’s influence on the Trump administration may seem to some like merely an insignificant incident. However, she is an element of MAGA and the accelerationist background. History teaches us that precisely such “minor” cases – the systematic introduction of radical ideologues to the center of power, manipulating information flow, public attacks on opponents – are the first steps toward more serious erosion of democracy. This is happening now at an accelerated pace.

In the face of intimidation of independent media, staffing key positions with loyalists, and creating an alternative information reality, our duty is not only to document these actions but also to call them by their proper names. I recommend looking at the faces of people from the 1936 Olympics. Did any of these people predict the hecatomb that would occur in a few years? Only by understanding historical parallels can we effectively defend democracy against its gradual degradation. I have a critical approach to the USA and democracy, but an even more critical one toward pseudo-specialists spreading conspiracy theories who become self-proclaimed authorities, thereby removing all safeguards.

I recommend everyone return to Julia Boyd’s book Travellers in the Third Reich: The Rise of Fascism Through the Eyes of Everyday People because this 2017 book is gaining relevance today.