History Didn't Just Repeat, It Rebranded

Ever wonder what Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Donald Trump’s America really have in common? Ever hear someone say, “Trump’s not Hitler,” and wonder how far we’ll go before we admit history’s got a new logo?  

In this episode, we unpack the modern makeover of old-school fascism — the branding, the gaslighting, and the crowd control. What used to be uniformed rallies are now campaign tours with theme songs. What used to be propaganda is now primetime “news.” 

Let's confront the uncomfortable parallels that most people choose to ignore or worse, excuse. Because history didn't repeat...it just swapped uniforms and hashtags. 

If you’ve been feeling that eerie déjà vu — this episode names it.

About your host:
Sonia in Cyber is a multicultural feminist voice, creative entrepreneur, and unapologetic truth-teller. With roots in education, tech, and product marketing, she blends data with empathy, humor with heartbreak, to expose the cracks in America’s “normal.” Through her podcast Somebody Pinch Me, she gives voice to the disillusioned, the outspoken, the overlooked, and the quietly furious — proving that truth doesn’t just survive in chaos; it thrives in it. Her mission is simple: to use her voice to inspire others to keep fighting, resisting, and moving forward — no matter what.

Transcript

@soniaincyber: 0:21

You ever feel like you're watching history repeat itself in real time? Like the headlines are pulled straight from a 1930s history book, only this time it's wrapped in a red hat and reality TV? Yeah, me too. This is Somebody Pinch Me and today's episode, "History Didn't Just Repeat, It Rebranded." Because if you've ever wondered how a nation as advanced, as cultured, as powerful as Germany could fall into the hands of a genocidal maniac, you're not alone. And if you've ever looked around America lately and felt a little too much deja vu, you're not imagining it. Let's get into it.

@soniaincyber: 0:57

Hitler didn't walk into power yelling, "I'm going to murder six million Jews!". He started by "othering", by blaming Germany's problems on immigrants, minorities, the elites, and political enemies. Sound familiar? He called the press the "Lügenpresse", the lying press. Trump today? Fake News. He called opponents enemies of the people. Trump today? Same playbook. Joseph Goebbels, the mastermind behind the Nazi propaganda machine, said "propaganda works best when those being manipulated are confident they're acting on their own free will". In other words, when folks are so brainwashed they fail to see how much their actions, beliefs, and lives are being controlled. The kind of propaganda that makes you believe you're speaking your own mind, when really you're just repeating someone else's script that was fed to you. Like the consistent script of insults, arguments, or logic, and I use that very loosely, you'll see and hear used by MAGA today. It's never been about freedom. It's about convincing these folks that they're fighting tyranny while they carry water for the actual tyrants. And it worked, because the average German wasn't evil. They were scared. They were broke. They wanted someone to blame. So when Hitler offered simple answers to complex problems, the same way Trump and friends always offer simple explanations for the most complicated issues in America, Germans didn't just listen, they cheered.

@soniaincyber: 2:24

Now to understand how this was even possible, let's take a moment to dive into Germany's history pre-Hitler. After World War I, the Treaty of Versailles blamed Germany entirely for the war. It required Germany to take full blame through the "War Guilt Clause", pay enormous reparations (over 132 billion marks), surrender 13% of its territory in all overseas colonies, and they were stripped of their military might by limiting the size of the military drastically. The national psyche was shattered. The people felt punished, embarrassed, and robbed of dignity. Many Germans saw this as a national humiliation, not just unfair, but an intentional act to keep Germany weak.

@soniaincyber: 3:09

Enter the Nazis. They promised to make Germany great again. Literally. They told Germans they were the superior race, that others were to blame, Jews, Marxists, immigrants, the disabled, and that they had been stabbed in the back by their own corrupt elites. This narrative became central to Hitler's rise. Sound familiar? It should. In modern America, decades of economic decline, factory closures, automation, and offshoring left many rural and working class Americans, particularly white Americans, feeling forgotten. After the Cold War, America shifted into a globalist corporate-first economy. MAGA capitalized on this. They still do. Trump spoke directly to the resentment. "They're laughing at us." "They took your jobs." "The elites betrayed you." "I alone can fix it." It wasn't about policy. It was about restoring pride and offering someone to blame.

@soniaincyber: 4:08

Now, going back to Germany, the German government tried to pay their reparations by printing more money. The result? One of the worst cases of hyperinflation in modern history. A loaf of bread went from 250 marks in January 1923 to 200 billion marks by November. Middle class families watched their life savings evaporate overnight. Children played with stacks of worthless bills and people used money for fuel. It was cheaper to burn than firewood. Hyperinflation in the 1920s destroyed the German middle class. A wheelbarrow full of cash meant nothing. And then, just as the economy began stabilizing under the Weimar Republic, the U.S. stock market crash of 1929 sent Germany spiraling again. Unemployment soared. Nearly 1 in 3 workers had no job by 1932. Businesses failed, banks collapsed, hunger, homelessness, and despair grew rampant. The fragile Weimar democracy appeared weak and incapable of fixing anything. The Great Depression pushed unemployment to 30% in the early 1930s. Desperation created the perfect storm for what came next.

@soniaincyber: 5:18

Now, to bring it back to today, while America didn't suffer hyperinflation, economic inequality skyrocketed in the last decades, especially. 2008's financial crash wiped out savings and homes. Entire regions were hollowed out by NAFTA and globalizations. The pandemic hit working class and marginalized communities hardest. Billionaires got richer, everyone else got scared. And into that fear stepped a man who promised to bring back coal, punish immigrants, and win for the forgotten man. Now going back to Germany, I'll paint a picture that chillingly echoes America and the rise of Trump.

@soniaincyber: 6:05

In Germany's climate of economic devastation, loss of national pride, rising political chaos with street battles between communist and far-right groups, and a lack of faith in democratic institutions, people became desperate. They didn't want slow reform. They wanted strong leadership, certainty, blame, order. The Weimar Republic was democratic but slow, chaotic, and fragile. People grew tired of instability and infighting. They didn't want nuance, they wanted strength. Hitler and the Nazis offered a clear, authoritarian alternative, and many Germans accepted dictatorship if it meant order. Hitler promised it all: jobs and economic recovery, restoration of German pride, a scapegoat for the country's suffering, Jews, communists, immigrants, and more, and a return to traditional values. The Nazis blamed Germany's decline on Jews, communists, LGBTQIA plus people, the disabled, anyone who wasn't part of their narrow, pure vision of the fatherland. They use propaganda to dehumanize them, spread lies about crime, disease, and cultural destruction.

@soniaincyber: 7:17

MAGA's rhetoric has followed the same exact playbook. "Immigrants are invading!" "Muslims are terrorists!" "Black voters are fraudulent!" "Trans people are groomers!" "LGBTQIA plus teachers are indoctrinating kids!" The strategy is old but effective. Stoke fear of change, use identity as a weapon, promise purity, strength, and a return to greatness. Decades of gridlock, corruption, and inaction have caused many Americans to lose faith in Congress, the courts, and elections. Trump positioned himself as the outsider who would destroy the deep state, drain the swamp, and end woke madness. Some Americans, even centrists, said they'd trade democracy for someone who gets things done. This is how authoritarianism wins: by eroding faith in the system slowly, then offering a savior. When people are hungry, ashamed, and terrified of the future, they become easy to manipulate.

@soniaincyber: 8:18

Hitler, Goebbels, and the Nazi Party exploited this expertly. They framed fascism as patriotism. They targeted emotion over logic, fear, pride, rage. They used national trauma to justify authoritarian solutions. And the terrifying part, many Germans cheered. They believed they were taking their country back. They believed they were restoring greatness. Joseph Goebbels, Nazi propaganda minister, understood the power of repetition and emotion. "A lie told once remains a lie, but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth." They controlled the radio, the papers, the messaging, and told Germans what to believe. In America, enter Fox News, Sinclair Broadcasting, Right Wing Radio, Social Media Algorithms, QAnon. MAGA voters often exist in an alternate reality. They believe the election was stolen. Democrats are pedophiles. Trump is a chosen savior. And no fact can penetrate that because the information environment has been hijacked.

@soniaincyber: 9:26

Now, just to clarify, the Nazis didn't just win through elections. They weaponized paramilitary forces, the SA and SS, used police intimidation, arrested opponents, and crushed dissent. And here in America, from the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers to Trump using the National Guards against protesters, we've seen the rise of armed militia cosplay, Second Amendment remedies, and open threats against journalists, judges, and lawmakers. Now, Trump and allies openly vow to purge the deep state, use the DOJ for revenge, and end birthright citizenship. It's not hypothetical, it's declared.

@soniaincyber: 10:03

So why did so many common people, the working class MAGA base, fall for this? Because just like Germany's public in the 1930s, they were hurting economically. They felt culturally abandoned. They felt mocked by elites. They were scared of the future, and they wanted easy answers and someone to blame. Instead of being lifted up by truth, they were dragged down further by lies. Hitler didn't seize power overnight. He was normalized, he was accommodated. And by the time enough people realized what he was, it was too late. The same trajectory is happening here. We like to think we'd recognize fascism when we see it. We tell ourselves we'd never be the ones cheering while others suffered, that we'd never fall for the lies, that we're smarter now, freer, safer. But here's the truth. History didn't just repeat. It got bolder, it got flashier, louder, it learned to wear a red hat and wave a flag while holding the matchbook.

@soniaincyber: 11:01

Many Americans still feel puzzled by what happened in Germany, like how it could have happened and still believe it could never happen here. But it is, right now, and it's worse. In Nazi Germany, the cruelty was hidden, at least at first. Here in America, it's broadcast on live TV. People are cheering the suffering. They're clapping for cages. They're defending Alligator Alcatraz, a floating migrant prison, or more accurately, concentration camp in the Gulf of Mexico, where we literally sentence people to isolation and trauma for daring to seek safety. We're setting up inhumane prisons in other countries, illegally deporting folks to who knows where with no due process. And the worst part, they're stripping Americans of critical benefits and coverage just to do it, with your tax dollars. They're mocking the deaths of brown and black Americans murdered in traffic stops, shot in their homes, and erased by policy. They cheer when books are banned. They laugh when folks living alternative lifestyles are ridiculed or worse, violently accosted. They scream freedom while pledging loyalty to one man no matter what he does. And still, too many people don't see it. Too many brush it off as politics. Too many think they're safe because they're not the ones in the crosshairs yet. But that's how it all starts. And this time, it's not creeping in the shadows. It's marching down Main Street.

@soniaincyber: 12:21

So if you're waiting for a moment more obvious than this, there isn't one. We're living in the pages of the history book right now. And whether you're MAGA, moderate, or just minding your own business, if you're not speaking out, you're part of the silence that enables the next atrocity. Because here's what history also teaches us. It doesn't take a majority to commit atrocities. It just takes a passive public and a loud enough cult willing to do it in the daylight.

@soniaincyber: 12:49

But there's still time, time to wake up, to pay attention, to speak louder than the hate, to resist with more than an eye roll, to remember that being a bystander is never neutral, it's a choice. This isn't about left or right anymore. This is about human or inhuman, about freedom or authoritarianism, about truth or the lie repeated a thousand times. So I leave you with this. If you've ever said I would have done something back then, this IS the back then. And what you do now matters. This is Somebody Pinch Me. I hope you're listening.