“A Yuga Cycle progresses through four yugas, Kali Yuga being the final stage in the cycle, characterized by darkness, chaos, and moral decline. It is an age where humanity strays far from righteousness and spiritual wisdom, plunging into confusion and hypocrisy. Near the end of Kali Yuga, when virtues are at their worst, a cataclysm and a re-establishment of dharma occur.” Ye gods, that sounds like a Wagner opera!

Last night I re-rewatched propaganda film extraordinaire “Triumph of the Will” by Leni Reifenstahl, and “Architecture of Doom”, a documentary that best explains Hitler and Nazism. You should watch these, so you can laugh harder at Trump and MAGA’s lame mimicry of totalitarian style, and their attempts recreate the mass mania, the spectacle and the cult of personality that engulfed Germany in the 1930s.

Already in the 1920s, art was of first-rank importance to the Nazis. Cultural degeneration was seen by many as a genuine threat. “Decay” was a mod-ish word among the petty bourgeoisie, and “the Jew” was thought to be the spiritually and intellectually depraved cause of the decay. Shortly before World War I broke out, art student Hitler wrote, “Oh, how I’d love to stay here, working with art!” and planned to retire and devote himself to art when the war ended.

Not only Hitler, but many other Third Reich leaders were failed artists. In 1907 Hitler, age 18, unsuccessfully applied to the Academy of Art in Vienna. He was a romantic aesthete, and a huge fan of the operas and “music dramas” of Richard Wagner (who, in his final years developed an interest in the racialist philosophy of Arthur de Gobineau, notably Gobineau's belief that Western society was doomed because of miscegenation between "superior" and "inferior" races). Hitler’s favorite opera was Rienzi, the titular hero of which wants to turn the clock back 15 centuries, and reestablish the Roman Republic of antiquity, but falls victim to a conspiracy and, in the climax, the capitol crashes around him. “It was in that hour, it all began,” Hitler claimed. “Whoever would understand Nazism must first know Wagner and his scenic possibilities.” Indeed, Hitler used Wagner as the basis for the civilization he hoped the Third Reich would become, and himself sketched the Nazi flags, standards and uniforms that Hugo Boss would manufacture. Nazi mass rallies were quasi-performance art, with Hitler as set designer, director, and lead actor.

Alas for Trump, MAGA culture is summed up by two celebrities who make notable appearances at his events, Hulk Hogan and Kid Rock. The Caesar of MAGA’s “Roman Republic” was Jim Crow. In place of spectacles at the Colosseum, MAGA has pro-wrestling; in place of Wagner, Kid Rock.

That said, white, working class Americans have been economically traumatized since Reagan’s 1980s. That history, on top of generational racism, made them ripe for rich racists like Trump and Musk. The German population had been so angry and desperate since the loss and aftermath of World War I, a significant proportion of them embraced and, eventually, worshipped a charismatic speaker who took their side, seemed 1000% sure of his predictions, and had plenty of toadies to reinforce his messages. Following are a few of the speakers at the 1934 Nuremberg rally.

Fritz Todt, Reich General Inspector of Highways & Construction: “As I speak, work on the Reich Autobahn has begun at 51 locations. Although this work is in its early stage, today there are already 52,000 men on the job, and another 100,000 engaged in the work of allied industries.”

Alfred Rosenberg, future Reich Minister for annexed Eastern Territories: “It is our unshakable belief in ourselves that is our hope for the youth to carry on the work which has been put before them” [such as repopulating the depopulated Eastern Territories with Germans].

Josef Goebbels, Reich Minister, Ministry of People Enlightenment & Propaganda: “May the bright flame of our enthusiasm never be extinguished. It alone gives light and warmth to the creative art of modern political propaganda…It may be good to possess power based on strength…what you, my Fuhrer, mean to Germany! When you act, the nation acts.”

Dr. Otto Dietrich, Reich Press Chief, Ministry of People Enlightenment and Propaganda: “Truth is the foundation on which the power of the press stands in the world. And that it reports the truth about Germany is the only demand that we place on the foreign press.”

Adolf Hitler, Fuhrer: “These things appear enigmatic and mysterious…We order the State! The State did not create us; rather, we created our own State! …The God, our God, who created our people, gave us that command! …We want to see one Reich! We want this people to be obedient…We want this people to be peace-loving but, at the same time, to be courageous. And you must, for that reason, be both…’

Viktor Lutze, SA Chief of Staff: “We SA workers will always be true only to the Fuhrer, and fight for the Fuhrer!” The crowd roars.

As Matt, aka Heretical Hare, writes in Substack, “Donald Trump doesn’t fit the polished or proper profile of the statesmen of yesteryear, nor is he the embodiment of the Solar masculine principle- What Donald Trump is, is a Kali Yuga King personified. The Kali Yuga is a period of dissolution symbolized by the Hindu goddess Kali who represents the shocking, cruel and trickster aspects of the dark feminine or DEATH. In Platonic cosmology, the Kali Yuga is called the Iron Age, a time of deterioration, breakdown and decay.” https://substack.com/home/post/p-152001061

So we can expect attempts to reboot the speeches at mass rallies like Nuremberg in 1934, as history repeats a tragedy of the past. This time will be no less tragic but, as Marx said, it will, simultaneously, be a farce.