The parallels between today’s America and the Germany of a century ago are profound – and are becoming more relevant with each passing day. Sadly, what was considered inconceivable a few years ago has now become a possibility: the development of a totalitarian state in America. Adrian Lipscomb continues from Part 1 of this series.

7. Suppression of Academic Freedom

In 1933 the Nazi regime targeted German universities – among the most elite in the world at the time – to be restructured according to Nazi principles. While their Ministry of Education initiated radical reforms, local Nazi organisations and student activists worked to bring Nazi ideals to German campuses. That was Germany in the 1930s. But in America more recently, the Trump administration has sought to exert extraordinary influence over American universities by threatening to cut them off their funding and, in some cases, students. In May 2025 (for example) they moved to end Harvard’s ability to enrol international students, escalating a standoff with America’s oldest university.

8. Extradition of ‘undesirables’

For the first five years of its regime, the Nazi Government attempted to eliminate all political rivals. Jews were one target. Socialists and Jehovah’s Witnesses were also persecuted, arrested, and killed as political challengers; homosexuals. Roma (Gypsies), and the handicapped were attacked as threats to the purity of Aryan blood. The lack of public opposition to this persecution allowed the Nazis to continually escalate their attacks on these groups. That was Germany in the 1930s. But in America more recently, the so-called “undesirables” are considered by the Trump administration to be mainly undocumented “Mexicans and Latinos”. Their presence has been unofficially tolerated under previous administrations, and they were sometimes granted “sanctuary” protections to prevent their deportation. US Immigration & Customs Enforcement is currently attempting to carry out Trump’s campaign promise to enact the “largest deportation program” in history. It is consequently carrying out a surge of immigration arrests, with a view to ramping up the pace of deportations.

9. Protests against the regime

Protests against Hitler and the Nazi regime took many forms, including organised boycotts, rallies, and petitions, as well as more clandestine acts of resistance within Germany. Notable examples were the Rosenstrasse demonstration in 1943 (where women protested the arrest of their Jewish husbands) and the White Rose Movement, which was composed mainly of students from the University of Munich (who produced and distributed leaflets calling for active opposition to the Nazi regime). That was Germany in the 1930s. But in America more recently, there have been frequent protests expressing opposition to Trump’s campaign rhetoric. Following his victory in the 2024 presidential election, a new wave of protests was staged. In June 2025, protests took place in towns and cities in a co-ordinated event entitled “No Kings”. These were held in large part to protest against a military parade held by Trump in Washington DC.

10. Treatment of LGBTQ people

Before 1933, male homosexual acts were illegal in Germany under the German Criminal Code. The law was not consistently enforced, however, and a thriving gay culture existed in many German cities. The Röhm purge (variously known as “Operation Hummingbird” or “The Night of the Long Knives”) in 1934 then saw the Nazi government commence the persecution of homosexual men more systematically. This peaked in the years prior to World War II and was extended to areas annexed by Germany. That was Germany in the 1930s. But in America more recently, Trump’s first term in office from 2017 until 2021 resulted in a wave of discriminatory measures aimed at minimising protection for LGBTQ people. Since then, state legislatures around the country have continued to enact draconian bills to limit the presence of LGBTQ people in public life, including rolling back freedoms for trans children. In May 2025, the Supreme Court permitted Trump’s administration to implement his ban on transgender people in the military, allowing the armed forces to discharge thousands of current transgender troops and reject new recruits while legal challenges were considered.

11. Tariffs

In 1933, as part of their economic policy, the Nazi regime implemented various tariffs and trade agreements which aimed to promote German economic self-sufficiency (Autarky) and to establish trade relationships that would benefit Germany. The Nazi regime aimed to make neighbouring countries economically dependent on Germany, with Germany receiving key raw materials and providing manufactured goods. German businesses were encouraged to form cartels, monopolies and oligopolies, and the state supported their interests. That was Germany in the 1930s. But in America more recently, on 2 April, 2025 — a day he called Liberation Day — Trump invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act to announce “reciprocal tariffs” on all countries not subject to other sanctions. The administration argued that its policy on tariffs helped to promote domestic manufacturing, protect national security and substitute for income taxes. A far-reaching “trade war” commenced and the principal adversaries are America’s main trading partners: China and the EU.

12. Coveting neighbouring countries

In the 1930s, the Nazis implemented policies of Lebensraum (living space) whereby they considered that Germany needed more land to allow the “Master Race” to increase and multiply. They initially sought to occupy and take control of neighbouring countries peacefully (eg. the Anschluss in Austria in March 1938). Later, they forcefully occupied other neighbouring countries. That was Germany in the 1930s. But in America more recently, Trump has repeatedly indicated that he would like to call Canada the 51st state of the US. Similarly, Trump covets control of Greenland, and has his eyes on Mexico. He is trying to impose a Monroe Doctrine redux, whereby he can bully Mexico and, by extension, the rest of Latin America, into compliance with his new era of gunboat diplomacy without fear of retaliation. In the process, he has expressed a fervent desire to change the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America.

And so the list goes on ….

Totalitarian leaders invariably have elevated self-confidence and personalities that verge on the narcissistic – clearly qualities that are prerequisites for the job. Altruism and philanthropy do not help to achieve the necessary dispassionate approach when the objective is a nation that is verging on authoritarianism (albeit with the facade of democracy).

Significantly, Trump’s pièce de résistance, what he calls his “Big Beautiful Bill”, recently passed the US House of Representatives. This will (among other things) serve to exacerbate existing inequalities in American society, and create new barriers for refugees seeking to stay there.

There is, of course, much to admire in the wider American story. But recent political developments tend to cast their national history into a contentious cloud, and one cannot help but challenge the direction in which they are now heading.

One must inevitably ask the question: is American exceptionalism (the MAGA dream) merely a rerun of German self-glorification?

Time will tell!

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.