"ICE is a reincarnation of the Blackwater private contractor model used in Iraq to murder Iraqi civilians for fun, and I suspect many in their ranks come from the very same labour pool."
A more current source of recruits would be the Proud Boys and militias that used to be in the news constantly, but that we hear little about these days. Why risk getting in trouble through affiliations with them when it is possible to continue the same work as a paid, immune official for the United States Government?!
I used the Blackwater model as an example to illustrate the similarities to the abuse of the population. There is never a shortage of manpower from the private military sector, but I agree they are also likely mining white supremacy groups, but they are difficult to vet, not that this seems to matter.
Yes! Illiteracy is a huge problem in the United States. We don't do too too badly at the level of sounding out the words, but the ability to comprehend the text is lacking. Video does not replace reading.
China will benefit from what Trump is doing to dismantle the US but don't forget Russia. Any attack of Greenland by the US, and a resulting war with NATO, will put Europe in a 2 front war with Russian in the East and the US in the West. It almost looks like Trump is following orders from Putin to do this as he is unable to articulate any plausible reason for such aggression. China, meanwhile, is likely to take the opportunity to invade Taiwan, to which Japan has already said it will respond defensively. China may also take the opportunity of a war in Europe to simply annex Western Russia, an old revanchist dream. This is how WW III will start.....
Can someone tell me what “own the libs” even means? I'm pretty sure I'm one of those libs. I have empathy, knowledge and critical thinking skills. Not sure how I'm being “owned”. I actually raalize what is hapoening. I am not blindly folluwing a useful idiot puppet of the evil oligarths who are behind this clown show. I will do whatever I can to rid the country of this evil regime.
So it's actually about triggering themselves? You know that makes perfect sense. A bunch of people who are out if control emotionally cannot think rationally. Totally see how this works for them!
1. There is no adult in the room to advise Trump or even question him.
2. Trump has begun saying that “all elections are fixed” (conveniently sidestepping his own) as a prelude to canceling the November election. Anyone who thinks November is going to “save” us literally has his/her head in the sand.
For me the latest revelation along these lines was to find out yesterday (from Carole Cadwalladr's Substack) that the dreadful Peter Mandelson - who is deeply implicated in the Epstein scandal (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/11/peter-mandelson-declines-to-apologise-for-association-with-jeffrey-epstein (it's laughable to be asked to believe that there was no homosexual activity, or that the blackmail was exclusively around sexual activity)) - has been promoting Palantir to the UK government, and that the CEO of Palantir UK is one Louis MOSLEY.
Our American friends might not know that name, and so may care to read more about his grandfather: https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-49405924 (Note that the Wikipedia page on Oswald Mosley appears to have been bowdlerised to suggest he wasn't really extreme. Hah.) And there are also all the links with the owners of the right-wing press that has been driving the current sorry state of affairs internationally. Again, readers outside the UK may not realise that the Daily Mail was violently pro-Hitler until the war got far enough along that that position became untenable; and that the paper is still owned by the same family. Actually, I do wonder how many of its current readers in the UK know about its sorry Nazi past?
In other words, this whole thing looks very much as if the descendants of the original Nazis are having another go. Nazism has always been a happy home for demented greedy narcissists from overprivileged backgrounds who are unable to ever admit being at fault in anything, or that they owe their "success" to a combination of luck of birth combined with extreme ruthlessness (rather than talent). And who have a predilection for slavery. I imagine those US holding camps for 'illegals' - a nice flexible term that - are intended to become work camps.
Alas, it is clearly time once again for us to take on the mantle of Van Helsing and drive a stake through the heart of this Nosferatu of political movements. Perhaps we might still be in time to do it before they all bring everything down in ruins yet again. Just.
As ever an excellent addition to the conversation Robyn and you’ll get no pushback from me. I love Carole, her and I have conversed after I made the short film about Thiel and the dark enlightenment.
There is no question there are very dark forces at work here and the level of access they have to cash is limitless, hence Musk is stepping back into the fight for the midterms.
This is a very steep hill to climb, but I still have hope.
Yes, me too. The US is NOT like Germany in the ruins of WW1.
Also, I regained a bit of hope when I realised that Palantir’s software is still basically a glorified spreadsheet. A lot of tech is just smoke and mirrors.
I do wish we hadn’t let Starlink run amok, though…
Forgot the other Nazi link I was going to throw in: much more speculative, but I feel it fits in perfectly. Putin was based in East Germany, where I’m pretty sure a lot of minor Gestapo and SS will have ended up working as Stasi officers….
Really interesting and ominous Robyn. Peter Thiel also had ties to Epstein and was also behind the pardoning of the Honduran president/narco kingpin. He and Andreesen have both invested in a lawless piece of land called Prospera in Honduras which the current regime deemed unconstitutional. It’s enlightening that the CEO of Palantir in the UK is Oswald Mosley’s grandson. (I only know about him from watching Peaky Blinders). All of this is to say that there are dark forces behind what is happening on the streets. It’s not that there are simply untrained agents, there is a purposeful attempt at racial cleansing and obedience to the regime through fear and intimidation.
Ah I didn't connect the dots about Prospero... I completely agree about the deliberate design behind the 'racial cleansing' and misogyny, and indeed general cruelty. At least it is finally visible, after being well camouflaged for a very long time... Thanks so much, Janine.
Cross-referencing reading brings to the sharp edges of OUR current American dilemma immense clarity: the frantic voices urging action to forestall further cascading slide into fascist chaos and (bewilderingly) the passive voices suggesting that there might indeed be a precipice somewhere out there…. I agree with dean blundell’s analysis: Minnesota represents a stress test of the resolve of citizens to resist the regime’s forceful use of indiscriminate violence to immobilize a relatively progressive state This is a precursor for doing the same elsewhere. Minnesota has become a testing ground. I find some measure of hope in the worldwide demonstrations against this regime. I’m trying my best to believe, as Robert Reich says, we must prevail against these fascist actions. I weep for the loss of life, loss of stability and loss of faith in our democratic institutions. Here we are. I hear many people express despair 😩 that we have come to this place in our lifetime.
I so hope this essay is just plain wrong, because that means that I would be just plain wrong. I have been seeing the same comparison to Nazi Germany for some years now, the only difference being that under Trump 2.0, what used to be a tendency is now happening.
I hate to disappoint you but I think you should conclude that the comparison is uncanny, I’ve examined all the reference points and there is no other conclusion to draw I’m afraid.
Ticks every box of the 1943 Army Talks memo about fascism that Heather Cox Richardson wrote about a few days ago. Should be mandatory reading for every American (but not just Americans) nowadays:
I wasn’t suggesting there was any adult in the room in the states, I was more focussed on international leaders.
"ICE is a reincarnation of the Blackwater private contractor model used in Iraq to murder Iraqi civilians for fun, and I suspect many in their ranks come from the very same labour pool."
A more current source of recruits would be the Proud Boys and militias that used to be in the news constantly, but that we hear little about these days. Why risk getting in trouble through affiliations with them when it is possible to continue the same work as a paid, immune official for the United States Government?!
I used the Blackwater model as an example to illustrate the similarities to the abuse of the population. There is never a shortage of manpower from the private military sector, but I agree they are also likely mining white supremacy groups, but they are difficult to vet, not that this seems to matter.
Sad, but undeniable truths. There are too many very illiterate Americans who have no idea they are being duped.
Yes! Illiteracy is a huge problem in the United States. We don't do too too badly at the level of sounding out the words, but the ability to comprehend the text is lacking. Video does not replace reading.
Deport dual citizens Melania and Barron
China will benefit from what Trump is doing to dismantle the US but don't forget Russia. Any attack of Greenland by the US, and a resulting war with NATO, will put Europe in a 2 front war with Russian in the East and the US in the West. It almost looks like Trump is following orders from Putin to do this as he is unable to articulate any plausible reason for such aggression. China, meanwhile, is likely to take the opportunity to invade Taiwan, to which Japan has already said it will respond defensively. China may also take the opportunity of a war in Europe to simply annex Western Russia, an old revanchist dream. This is how WW III will start.....
Interesting take Mike, we are in uncharted waters.
I really hope it doesn’t escalate into WW3! 🤷♀️🤬🤐😡😖☢️😤😢💦🤡🤦♀️
There are too many illiterate Americans who simply DON'T CARE that they're being duped!
....as long as they "own the libs".
Sadly you are correct
Can someone tell me what “own the libs” even means? I'm pretty sure I'm one of those libs. I have empathy, knowledge and critical thinking skills. Not sure how I'm being “owned”. I actually raalize what is hapoening. I am not blindly folluwing a useful idiot puppet of the evil oligarths who are behind this clown show. I will do whatever I can to rid the country of this evil regime.
Me, too, Christine!
It's ALL nonsensical rhetoric to rile up the maga base!
So it's actually about triggering themselves? You know that makes perfect sense. A bunch of people who are out if control emotionally cannot think rationally. Totally see how this works for them!
Two points:
1. There is no adult in the room to advise Trump or even question him.
2. Trump has begun saying that “all elections are fixed” (conveniently sidestepping his own) as a prelude to canceling the November election. Anyone who thinks November is going to “save” us literally has his/her head in the sand.
I think it’s clear we are on the same page.
Really useful once again, Martin. Thank you!
But I fear it's not just a similarity to the Nazis we are seeing, but rather their direct continuation. It's salutary to trace the current background players - Thiel, Musk and the rest of PayPal/Palantir - back first to Swakopmund (https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jan/26/elon-musk-peter-thiel-apartheid-south-africa), and before that to the Technocracy movement (https://theconversation.com/a-1930s-movement-wanted-to-merge-the-us-canada-and-greenland-heres-why-it-has-modern-resonances-252587). The map you can see in the link is - well, shall we say striking?
For me the latest revelation along these lines was to find out yesterday (from Carole Cadwalladr's Substack) that the dreadful Peter Mandelson - who is deeply implicated in the Epstein scandal (https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/jan/11/peter-mandelson-declines-to-apologise-for-association-with-jeffrey-epstein (it's laughable to be asked to believe that there was no homosexual activity, or that the blackmail was exclusively around sexual activity)) - has been promoting Palantir to the UK government, and that the CEO of Palantir UK is one Louis MOSLEY.
Our American friends might not know that name, and so may care to read more about his grandfather: https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-49405924 (Note that the Wikipedia page on Oswald Mosley appears to have been bowdlerised to suggest he wasn't really extreme. Hah.) And there are also all the links with the owners of the right-wing press that has been driving the current sorry state of affairs internationally. Again, readers outside the UK may not realise that the Daily Mail was violently pro-Hitler until the war got far enough along that that position became untenable; and that the paper is still owned by the same family. Actually, I do wonder how many of its current readers in the UK know about its sorry Nazi past?
In other words, this whole thing looks very much as if the descendants of the original Nazis are having another go. Nazism has always been a happy home for demented greedy narcissists from overprivileged backgrounds who are unable to ever admit being at fault in anything, or that they owe their "success" to a combination of luck of birth combined with extreme ruthlessness (rather than talent). And who have a predilection for slavery. I imagine those US holding camps for 'illegals' - a nice flexible term that - are intended to become work camps.
Alas, it is clearly time once again for us to take on the mantle of Van Helsing and drive a stake through the heart of this Nosferatu of political movements. Perhaps we might still be in time to do it before they all bring everything down in ruins yet again. Just.
As ever an excellent addition to the conversation Robyn and you’ll get no pushback from me. I love Carole, her and I have conversed after I made the short film about Thiel and the dark enlightenment.
https://youtu.be/8tDRc37bCT8?si=jX7mhMuxT5KagrdZ
There is no question there are very dark forces at work here and the level of access they have to cash is limitless, hence Musk is stepping back into the fight for the midterms.
This is a very steep hill to climb, but I still have hope.
Martin
Yes, me too. The US is NOT like Germany in the ruins of WW1.
Also, I regained a bit of hope when I realised that Palantir’s software is still basically a glorified spreadsheet. A lot of tech is just smoke and mirrors.
I do wish we hadn’t let Starlink run amok, though…
Forgot the other Nazi link I was going to throw in: much more speculative, but I feel it fits in perfectly. Putin was based in East Germany, where I’m pretty sure a lot of minor Gestapo and SS will have ended up working as Stasi officers….
Really interesting and ominous Robyn. Peter Thiel also had ties to Epstein and was also behind the pardoning of the Honduran president/narco kingpin. He and Andreesen have both invested in a lawless piece of land called Prospera in Honduras which the current regime deemed unconstitutional. It’s enlightening that the CEO of Palantir in the UK is Oswald Mosley’s grandson. (I only know about him from watching Peaky Blinders). All of this is to say that there are dark forces behind what is happening on the streets. It’s not that there are simply untrained agents, there is a purposeful attempt at racial cleansing and obedience to the regime through fear and intimidation.
Ah I didn't connect the dots about Prospero... I completely agree about the deliberate design behind the 'racial cleansing' and misogyny, and indeed general cruelty. At least it is finally visible, after being well camouflaged for a very long time... Thanks so much, Janine.
Wow.This is true...and truly FRIGHTENING!!!!
you have to get rid with this white house mafia clan they destroy human live for fun.
Cross-referencing reading brings to the sharp edges of OUR current American dilemma immense clarity: the frantic voices urging action to forestall further cascading slide into fascist chaos and (bewilderingly) the passive voices suggesting that there might indeed be a precipice somewhere out there…. I agree with dean blundell’s analysis: Minnesota represents a stress test of the resolve of citizens to resist the regime’s forceful use of indiscriminate violence to immobilize a relatively progressive state This is a precursor for doing the same elsewhere. Minnesota has become a testing ground. I find some measure of hope in the worldwide demonstrations against this regime. I’m trying my best to believe, as Robert Reich says, we must prevail against these fascist actions. I weep for the loss of life, loss of stability and loss of faith in our democratic institutions. Here we are. I hear many people express despair 😩 that we have come to this place in our lifetime.
ALOHA. On the ONE FINGER COCONUT WIRELESS. ...................................................................
I so hope this essay is just plain wrong, because that means that I would be just plain wrong. I have been seeing the same comparison to Nazi Germany for some years now, the only difference being that under Trump 2.0, what used to be a tendency is now happening.
I hate to disappoint you but I think you should conclude that the comparison is uncanny, I’ve examined all the reference points and there is no other conclusion to draw I’m afraid.
Ticks every box of the 1943 Army Talks memo about fascism that Heather Cox Richardson wrote about a few days ago. Should be mandatory reading for every American (but not just Americans) nowadays:
https://archive.org/details/ArmyTalkOrientationFactSheet64-Fascism/mode/1up
I can’t bare to think that it will come to this! 🤷♀️💭💬🤐🤬😖😡😤🔥🚀🛩️🤦♀️