Is America Really the New Nazi Germany? Let’s Reality-Test That.

Using one of psychology’s most useful tools to separate fear from fact in our political imagination.

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It’s now half a year into the renewed Trump administration, and the calls that we are living in a fascist dictatorship are only becoming more shrill as reality continues to disappoint.

Many folks who are happy with the new administration are reaching a point of irritation with all the Nazi talk, it may be possible to create a pathway back to sanity for the silent left leaning fence sitters that might be starting to do accurate math.

To help these folks make up their minds, and take one of old-timey psychology's better tools for a spin, we are going to reality test the notion that we are in fact, living in the new Nazi empire.

What Is Reality Testing?

Reality testing is a psychotherapeutic technique involving objectively assessing situations and separating internal impressions, or what we think is happening, from external reality, what is actually happening.

It’s useful in therapy to help clients challenge negative and irrational thoughts as an entrée to developing more adaptive coping mechanisms. For the same reasons, it can also help in conflict resolution by helping both parties sort through unrealistic perceptions or expectations.

This technique can be particularly helpful when someone has been part of a manipulative belief system, whether that’s a cult, an abusive relationship, or another rigid ideology, by helping individuals see what’s happening more clearly.

Some folks also use it as a way of increasing the likelihood of lucid dreaming… but that’s another article.

Reality Testing for Civic Health

In our current context, reality testing could help bring everyone back to enough common ground that productive conversation is again possible.

Right now, some people believe we’ve entered a fascist dictatorship and become the new Nazi Germany, where civil liberties are collapsing, minority groups are in danger, and authoritarianism is the rule of the day.

BUT

If we could just hold that thought, just long enough to walk through a few key reality checks, putting history side by side with what we’re seeing, maybe a different picture can emerge.

Nazi Germany vs. Present Day USA Thunderdome!

Reality Test 1: The Treatment of Opposition Voices

Nazi Germany

• Opposition parties were outlawed.

• The independent press was shut down.

• Speaking against the regime risked imprisonment or death.

America Today:

• Opposition media flourishes (MSNBC, NPR, The Atlantic, Substack). Love it or hate it, you can’t shut most people up around here.

• Trump critics dominate Hollywood, academia, the arts, and corporate HR (though this last one seems to be improving.)

• You can openly call Trump a fascist on every major platform.

• Democrats, Libertarians, and many other smaller political parties are alive and well and complaining bitterly in Congress and anywhere that will give them a microphone.

If the US really was a Nazi-like regime, would you still have the freedom to call it one, much less chase after ICE agents and hit them with your handbag?

Reality Test 2: State Control of Institutions

Nazi Germany:

• State absorbed institutions: education, unions, press, courts, art (RIP the Bauhaus).

• Ideological conformity enforced by state police and surveillance.

America Today:

• Many institutions still lean left… cough… Academia.

• The FBI, IRS, and military face lawsuits, scrutiny, and FOIA requests, which they respond to, albeit sometimes slowly.

• Governors, attorneys general, and courts routinely check federal power.

A totalitarian regime doesn't usually allow its own agents to be sued and investigated by the public it controls. The ACLU and clients were freely allowed to sue Tennessee over their restriction on medical care for transgender kids, and they lost fair and square in the Supreme Court.

Reality Test 3: Race-Based Laws and Violence

Nazi Germany:

• Jews were stripped of citizenship.

• Racial laws were enforced by secret police.

• Businesses were shut down and property seized.

America Today:

• Explicit racial discrimination is illegal under federal law.

• Systemic racism is debated, not enforced as policy, in increasing more places. Yay!

• Minority-owned businesses are promoted, not targeted.

This is a big one, folks. Words have meaning. Believing racial injustice exists is not the same as living under genocide.

Reality Test 4: Mass Violence and Censorship

Nazi Germany:

• Book burnings, arrests for thought crimes, secret police, camps.

• Teachers and journalists were imprisoned or killed for dissent.

America Today:

• Book banning claims mostly refer to school curation policies, not state censorship. Removing a book from a library is not the same as burning every copy you can find of it.

• “Deplatforming” happens socially or via private companies, not state gulags.

• No one is disappearing for writing a Substack or giving a talk. In fact the people getting death threats and chased out of events are still conservatives. 

Disagreement and speech regulation aren’t the same as secret police. And ICE isn’t the secret police either. We have laws about when and how we allow visitors into our country. Enforcing those laws isn’t amoral, and if folks think it is, there is a pathway to change that law if you can get enough others to agree.

Reality Test 5: Uniformity of Belief

Nazi Germany:

• Dissent wasn’t just punished—it was impossible to escape.

• No alternative media, no private internet, no global voices.

America Today:

• You can choose from thousands of political podcasts, newsletters, books.

• Millions reject both political parties—and say so freely.

• You’re reading this on an open platform.

In an authoritarian state, people don’t just lose elections, they lose the ability to speak, resist, or organize. Think of North Korea. You can effectively get the death penalty there for stealing a poster, and have generations of your family imprisoned for trivial reasons. The U.S. isn’t even close to that, which is why people are still fighting to get in. In totalitarian regimes, people fight to get out.

Final Reality Test: Does this belief help or harm you?

In therapy, an astute counselor would often ask: Is this belief protecting you, or keeping you stuck in fear? Believing we’re in a Nazi state when we aren’t makes it harder to fight real abuses of power, wherever they occur.

Just this past week, a National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) fundraiser planned for Knoxville was cancelled due to the organizers and the Republican member of the U.S. House who was their invited speaker got death threats. Their voices were shut down, and it wasn’t the current government doing that.

You can oppose Trump, support civil rights, and resist genuine threats to democracy without resorting to fantasy. Reality is complicated, but it’s also livable. And that’s good news.

If you’ve been questioning the narrative but feel afraid to say it out loud, you’re not alone. I write for people waking up from ideological fear, reclaiming sanity, and many others interested in objective reality. Subscribe below.

Housekeeping

Nooooooooooo! I don’t wanna keep house this week! Ok ok, I have been quite busy working toward getting accreditation before the TN General Assembly this spring, but so far there is nothing to report which feels deflating to talk about.

But I did catch these lovely butterflies flying around. There have been a lot of them this year. 

On the Bookshelf

This week I read a little of the Bible. The book of Job it’s a good ‘un.

Accreditation on the Edge: Challenging Quality Assurance in Higher Education by Susan D. Phillips

The Case Against Education by Bryan Caplan

The Licensing Racket: How We Decide Who Is Allowed to Work, and Why It Goes Wrong by Rebecca Haw Allensworth

Moral Calculations: Game Theory, Logic and Human Frailty by Laszlo Mero

The New Know-nothings: The Political Foes of the Scientific Study of Human Nature by Morton Hunt

The New Oxford Annotated Bible with Apocrypha: New Revised Standard by Marc Brettler, Carol Newsom, Pheme Perkins

Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! Adventures of a Curious Character by Richard Feynman

We Have Never Been Woke: The Cultural Contradictions of the New Elite by Musa al-Gharbi

“Whatever It Is, I’m Against It”: Resistance to Change in Higher Education by Brian Rosenberg

Your Consent Is Not Required by Rob Wipond. ←— READ THIS BOOK!

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About

Diogenes in Exile began after I returned to grad school to pursue a master’s degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at the University of Tennessee. What I found instead was a program saturated in Critical Theories ideology—where my Buddhist practice was treated as invalidating and where dissent from the prevailing orthodoxy was met with hostility. After witnessing how this ideology undermined both ethics and the foundations of good clinical practice, I made the difficult decision to walk away.

Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to exposing the ideological capture of psychology, higher education, and related institutions. My investigative writing has appeared in Real Clear Education, Minding the Campus, The College Fix, and has been republished by the American Council of Trustees and Alumni. I also speak and consult on policy reform to help rebuild public trust in once-respected professions.

Occasionally, I’m accused of being funny.

When I’m not writing or digging into documents, you’ll find me in the garden, making art, walking my dog, or guiding my kids toward adulthood.