Another One For the “Why Do They Call Us Nazis?” File
A student group at the University of Illinois adds to the list.
As I have noted on multiple occasions, various members and allies of the Trump administration get upset when critics refer to them as “Gestapo” or “Nazis” (here’s an example I saw just in passing this morning).
A piece of advice that I have shared for free on numerous occasions is: if you don’t want to be compared to Nazis, maybe don’t act like them?
The latest example comes from a Republican student group at the University of Illinois, which posted the following to Instagram:
Knowing nothing else about this graphic, and given recent events, it is hard not to see the resemblance between the man on his knees with a gun to his head and Alex Pretti, the man ICE shot 10 times in the back while he was face down on the ground.
If one knew nothing else save the obviously AI-generated image above, it would give one pause as to what message is being sent, unless one likes that message (i.e., that protestors should be shot as traitors).
To avoid any ambiguity, allow me to forthrightly state that protesting ICE is not treasonous; on the contrary, it is a constitutionally protected right.
More to the point, we know that just prior to being tackled and killed, his main “crimes” appear to be 1) coming to the aid of a woman who had been violently shoved by ICE, and 2) videoing with his phone.
All of the above would be enough, in my mind, to see the above graphic as Nazi-like.
But the situation is much worse, as the above graphic is derived from the following, which is clearly Pretti. I have included a comparison to a Nazi execution because, in most cases, this is how I encountered the image on social media when it was circulating several days ago.
It seems worth underscoring that there is little chance that whoever made the AI graphic version posted by illinirepublicans did not see the Nazi image as well, given its ubiquity.
All of this reminds me of the Young Republican text chains that were published and raised ongoing concerns about what is being incubated within conservative organizations at our universities. The people promoting these kinds of images are the same people who want to be party leaders and candidates in the future. That is not a comforting thought. This is all far-right politics that should be anathema in America, but instead are being cultivated by this administration.
I will say it again: if you don’t want to be compared to Nazis, don’t emulate Nazis.
Here’s the write-up on this story from the student newspaper: ‘Fell the enemies:’ Illini Republicans support ICE amid Minnesota killings.
As of Sunday, the group removed the graphic but kept the larger post, which garnered more than a thousand comments on their Instagram account.
The post continues to state that “it is, has, and always will be the mandate of our brave public servants, domestic and abroad, to fell the enemies of the United States of America.”
In a written response to questions from The Daily Illini, Illini Republicans declined to comment on whether they were saying Good and Pretti deserved to be killed.
That’s all pretty chilling, even with the graphic being taken down.
Jesus, I hope no one in Pretti’s family ever sees that graphic.
Do we know how these people will feel about being referred to as jihadi terrorists? Because in that graphic, the masked shooter looks a lot more ISIS than Nazi.
I would note that I think there is a subtlety in the reactions here that matters. These people DO want to emulate Nazis. They just want a morality free pass.
What they don’t want is to be made to parse the distinctions between immoral tactics of the Gestapo and the rationalized tactics of DHS. Take Ungar-Sargon’s umbrage at the link. The Nazi’s exterminated innocent Jews, while DHS is merely deporting into gulags immigrants who are presumed without evidence to be violent criminals. Threat to society simply by virtue of being Jewish is COMPLETELY different that threat to society simply by virtue of being Somali or Hmong. It’s much easier to claim your comparison is unfair than to explain why the comparison is unfair. (Especially since it is likely true the comparison is legitimate.)
@Scott F.:
Anyone who makes that argument should take the time to learn the steps the Nazis took before they arrived at the Final Solution, and how many years it took to reach that point. But then, given that so many people’s knowledge of the Third Reich doesn’t extend beyond a handful of soundbites that might be found inside a Snapple cap (6 million…. Auschwitz…. Anne Frank….), those types of arguments are so common as to be pedestrian.
@Scott F.:
@Kylopod:
One recalls the Nuremberg Laws — deployed by Hitler as a pretext to the persecution of Jews, Roma, queers, and other undesirables — were modeled in part on American Jim Crow laws and other US efforts to deem ethnic minorities non-citizens, inherently unequal, and beyond regular legal protection.
Under Trump, ICE/BP has devolved into Gestapolike brownshirts, yes. But why look only to Germany for examples of amoral, racialized tyranny? Trump’s ICE can also be thought of as modern day slave catchers, and their KKK-enforcer descendants.
*minor pedantic technicality: Alex Pretti was extralegally executed by BP agents, not ICE agents.
You know, when I looked at that Young Republican chat log, I got the impression that some of them are engaging in “no matter what we do, they will call us Nazis, so let’s have some fun with it.”
I think that’s what some are thinking.
This is 4-chan shitposting stuff. The play is, “I didn’t really mean it, what is wrong with you that you think I mean it?” Never get pinned down to anything. Everything is ironic, nothing is committed to. Being earnest is for noobs.
It makes it impossible to say whether they are in concord with Nazi ideology or not, which is why they like it.
Meanwhile, I don’t think this stuff, for instance that graphic, has a ton of public support. So, the play might be to egg them on, make them more and more visible while the public gets more and more repulsed.
@DK:
I’ve been wondering about the cultural/historical blindness about this. I’m of the camp that we shouldn’t be referring to ICE/CBP/Republicans/Trump as Nazis or Gestapo. We should be referring to them as our own homegrown nightmare terrorists; the Klan.
I think part of this is that the Nazis have been deemed to be both evil and competent (competent being mostly PR and fantasy) and well, what’s the US if not competent. I think the other part is that Republicans seem to have allowed the Klan to both fade from memory (well, white memory) and let them be seen as a joke.
I think the analogy with the Klan is more apt for another simple reason, the Nazis didn’t hide who they were while they were doing their evil. The Klan on the other hand, did.
Let me come at this a different way. I would protest that image in a different way:
That image you show, from illinirepublicans, is antithetical to everything I know and love about America.
In America, you are supposed to get your moment in court. You are not supposed to get murdered in the street by a guy who looks like he is a member of ISIS.
———
I don’t think arguing about whether it is “Nazi” or not is all that valuable, in terms of public persuasion. ISIS is much more clear in younger people’s minds. (And yeah, I stole that from someone upthread.) I grew up on WW2 movies, but most of the voting population didn’t.
@Beth: The Klan were not official actors of the state*, with the powers and immunities that entails.
If the Nazis were a refinement on American apartheid systems, the new brand of fascist enforcers are a refinement on the Nazis.
@Jay L. Gischer: I take these little Nazi shits at face value. They’re not really joking when they’re joking.
——
*: specifically in their role as Klansmen. There were definitely some police, politicians, etc. in the Klan. Still are.
Of course, this part is pretty damning:
The easy thing to do is to express some sympathy for their deaths, but maybe I’m underestimating the difficulty of something like that for what are sociopaths/radicals. Must never give an inch to those leftists!
On the one hand, I get the comparisons to both the Klan and to ISIS.
On the other, I may have to quit if I have to parse out which is the Most Perfect Analogy (TM) for all of this. (I say this half in jest and half in exhausted seriousness).
BTW, the Klan analogy is less on point in my mind because they were not state actors, while ICE/CBP/EIEIO are all agents of the state, making the Gestapo analogy closer fit.
The other reason for hitting back on the Nazi/fascist/Gestapo of it all is because they keep claiming that those labels are unfair, while I am arguing they are on point (all while accepting that no analogy is perfect).
@Gustopher: Yup.
@reid: Indeed.
@reid: I forget who said it, but I have yet to find a counter example: Anyone playing Schrodinger’s Douchebag is a Douchebag.
If you can’t answer that question then you’re a psychopath. Period. End of story.
@Beth:
One wonders why ICE and BP agents feel the need to hide their identity, since they allegedly enjoy state backing and official immunity.
You hit the nail on the head: like Klansmen they know their actions morally indefensible. Because good guys just innocently enforcing immigration law need have to hide.
But tear gassing and kidnapping children on a pedophile’s behalf, yeah, one needs a mask for that. “I’m an official state actor” offers no immunity from shame and eternal disgrace.
Then again, Georgia had a series of Klansmen governors who did not hide it at all. Other states to, I assume.
It’s not like every single person who voted for Trump wasn’t warned. In the first term there was plenty of warning.. but people in the Brogansphere [and many others] didn’t care and took the cash. As just one small example, the signs “Deport People Now” were held during the campaign.
The fun part of this is that the more ICE does…. what they were made to do [extrajudicial killings has always been the single point], the more the actual support for the entirety of the Republican party finds its floor. MAGA isn’t a subset of the Republican party, MAGA is the Republican party’s true id.
What’s that? The vibes have shifted and we’re finding that Republicans actually don’t give a rats patoot about real people? Even Andrew Schulz is now publically apologizing for supporting the fash?
Funny, it’s almost like some of us were against this from the rip.
Liberals and leftists were 110% correct and were ignored every step of the way.
And nobody is looking forward, Republicans will be held accountable.
Leftists were laughed at for having “Trump Derangement Syndrome” … but objective reality has proven that we were not hyperbolic enough.
@reid: (quoting the original article):
“In a written response to questions from The Daily Illini, Illini Republicans declined to comment on whether they were saying Good and Pretti deserved to be killed. ”
That flyer is stating that they did. All else is BS and ‘kidding on the square’.
@DK: “One wonders why ICE and BP agents feel the need to hide their identity, since they allegedly enjoy state backing and official immunity. ”
Because this is not *solidified* yet. They may also continue afterwards, for extra intimidation