History is Not Neutral

Tyranny on Repeat

In his book, On Tyranny [https://www.changinghands.com/book/9780804190114], Timothy Snyder gives us 20 lessons from the 20th century about fascism, communism, and authoritarianism, and adapts those lessons to the circumstances surrounding the 2024 election. Historical events mentioned in the show: -1923 Beer Hall Putsch: [encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/beer-hall-putsch-munish-putsch] November 8-9, a targeted act of violent in an attempt to overthrow the German government. There was a march to Berlin and eventually a failed coup. A number of Nazi supporters were killed in the violence by the police. Hitler was arrested and served a jail sentence where he wrote Mein Kampf. -1933 Reischtag Fire: [encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/the-reischtag-fire] February 27, there as a fire set on the Reischtag building (Germany's parliament building). After the fire, there was a decree made by the President, but at the direction of Hitler, that was an emergency powers act. It consolidated powers against the political enemies of the Nazis, including the communists. -1938 Kristallnacht: [encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/kristallnacht] Austria, also called the Night of Broken Glass. Nazis targeted Jewish businesses and homes with violence. Other mentions: -Mark Kelly and other members of Congress [https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Fk9Gh3qwW4I] on military not following unlawful orders, Trump's replies [https://cronkitenews.azpbs.org/2025/11/20/trump-sedition-mark-kelly-illegal-orders/]. -Scene from Newsroom [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16K6m3Ua2nw] (currently on HBO) Place in the historiography * The Dialectical Imagination: A History of the Frankfurt School and the Institute of Social Research [https://www.changinghands.com/book/9780520204232], 1923-1950 by Marin Jay * A Fascist Century - Essays [https://www.changinghands.com/book/9780230220898] by Roger Griffin * Bloodlines: Between Hitler and Stalin [https://www.changinghands.com/book/9781541600065] by Timothy Snyder * Maus [https://www.changinghands.com/book/9780394747231] by Art Spiegleman Other sources * https://5calls.org/?gad=1&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22403746453&gbraid=0AAAAA-3Z_SQ3z4DlqSbNAwo-khnwUebbu * Sign up to be a poll worker or cure ballots in your voting district * SAVE Act [https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/new-save-act-bills-would-still-block-millions-americans-voting] * Restrictions on medicated abortions [https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/trump-administration-announces-that-fda-will-consider-imposing-greater-restrictions-on-medication-abortion-nationwide#:~:text=The%20Trump%20administration%20has%20announced%20that%20the,without%20any%20treatment%20as%20%E2%80%9Cserious%20adverse%20events%E2%80%9D] * Check your voter registration status [https://www.vote.org/am-i-registered-to-vote/] * Find out if ICE facilities are being built in your state by going to/looking at the local city/county/state government meetings in your state * Arizona ballot measure [https://www.azfamily.com/2026/03/13/arizona-ballot-initiative-would-enshrine-mail-in-voting-state-constitution/] for mail-in voting protection *We do not receive commissions for any of the links listed here. Shop small, local bookstores or visit your local libraries if you are able to. Music is Mopeds by JMHBM from Free Music Archive, license CC BY

America's Framework in Nazi Germany

James Whitman detailed how American laws and legal precedent set the groundwork for Nazi raced based laws that targeted Jews and other groups in the 1930's in his book Hitler's American Model [https://www.changinghands.com/book/9780691183060]. It didn't start out with the Holocaust, it was limitations to freedoms and determining who was German and who wasn't. We talk about the examples Whitman lays out, as well as how those same laws and ideas are still being used in similar ways to "other" groups of people to determine who should be allowed in this country or not. Place in the historiography * The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism [https://www.changinghands.com/book/9780195082609] by Stefan Kuhl, 1994 * Manifest Destiny history of the U.S. because of the Nazi focus on Lebensraum (living space) - the entire concept for the invasion of Poland in 1938 and other countries thereafter. * Historians that did not believe the connection was evident between American laws and the laws created in Nazi Germany: Richard Bernstein and Jens-Uwe Guettel * Miscegenation Laws- What Comes Naturally [https://www.changinghands.com/book/9780199772353] by Peggy Pascoe Other sources * Nuremberg Laws text [https://www.swisseduc.ch/immersion/hist/ww2/antisemitism/docs/nuremberg_laws.pdf] * Nazi discrimination laws lesson plan [https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/e/2PACX-1vSyV5mNSECqz2O7JwXdupt0lhsUzewmAOgREet6fx1cdPbsKN7XpdqdZkS9rDdIdw/pub?start=false&loop=false&delayms=3000&pli=1&slide=id.p1⁠] I helped develop and teach * Rachel Maddow’s podcast Ultra season one on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/3ImqTb6CcfZINTgByeAThh] or Apple [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rachel-maddow-presents-ultra/id1647910854] *We do not receive commissions for any of the links listed here. Shop small, local bookstores or visit your local libraries if you are able to. Music is Mopeds by JMHBM from Free Music Archive, license CC BY