Episode 1 - Priests, Warriors and Merchants: Traditionalism, Hitler and Trump
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This series takes a close look at the uncanny similarity between the growth of extreme conservatism and Traditionalism in Germany leading to the installation of the Third Reich under Adolf Hitler, and the rise of extreme conservatism and traditionalism in the United States of America under Donald Trump. Just a quick note of clarification. I am not suggesting that there is an exact copy of fascism under way in America. Far from it.
But there is a philosophical correlation between Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, and Donald Trump’s MAGA Administration.
For an excellent introduction into Traditionalism the go-to book is ”War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right”, by Benjamin Teitelbaum published in 2020 which offers deep insight.
Traditionalists have risen to power in United States, a movement that has completely baffled the country’s intelligentsia and they appeared both transfixed and horrified by Donald Trump’s approach to both internal power and geopolitics.
Even academia is apparently unable to comprehend how quickly the political establishment has been turned inside out and the narrative has devolved in a barrage of outrage postings on social media.
The core cosmology that binds the Trump and Hitler administrations is a fixation on racial identity, driven by the desire to return their people to a mythical, lost origin. It was Hitler who told his audience that he would make Germany Great Again. Trump is parroting the German with the Make America Great Again narrative, but he wasn’t the first American to use this phrase.
The slogan “Let’s Make America Great Again" was famously used by Ronald Reagan in 1980. Donald Trump trademarked the version but dropped the "Let's" and turned it into the central pillar of his 2016 campaign. While Reagan built his narrative on the concept of American as an honourable partner, Trump like Hitler has built his on the concept of total power — an autocratic reading.
Traditionalists claim they are restoring a lost hierarchy of Priest, Warrior, and Merchant, while the reality is they are chasing a ghost—a Bloodline Mirage constructed to justify the dismantling of the modern state.
By promising a return to this mythical origin, men like Secretary of Defence/slash/war Pete Hegseth offer a sense of belonging to those who feel discarded by progress. They replace the data of the academic with the truth of the blood, turning a blurred vision of history into a sharp weapon for the future.
The myth continues, it says the race lies crushed beneath an alien yoke – and in this dream – a redeemer like Arthur shall return from exile or some distant sleep and drive out the usurper to win back for the people what they lost. The powerful messiah iconoclast returneth.
Every broken people conjures a redeemer. Hitler. Trump. Mussolini. Putin. Orbán. Bolsonaro. Different countries, different centuries, different languages — but the same performance. The saviour descends. He alone sees the wound. He alone can heal it. And healing, in his hands, always requires a villain. Someone to blame. Someone to burn. The outsider. The immigrant. The Jew. The intellectual. The communist. The Muslim. The Black man, the transman, the feminist. The names change. The mechanism never does.
There is a reason the thin skin of democracy shreds so quickly. It happens when calculated populism meets an aggressive rhetoric that dissolves all logic.
Traditionalism is a philosophical-moral system emphasizing a perennial tradition or a true religion that humanity has forgotten. It emphasizes maintaining a society within its foundational forces. Those who adhere to its principles are called Traditionalists. They are far right nationalists and can become National Socialists. Trump is a national socialist, so is Steve Bannon and Pete Hegseth. So was Adolf Hitler.
Traditionalists argue that the Intellectual is a product of the "Dark Age" or Kali Yuga - the end times.
But there is a philosophical correlation between Adolf Hitler’s Third Reich, and Donald Trump’s MAGA Administration.
For an excellent introduction into Traditionalism the go-to book is ”War for Eternity: The Return of Traditionalism and the Rise of the Populist Right”, by Benjamin Teitelbaum published in 2020 which offers deep insight.
Traditionalists have risen to power in United States, a movement that has completely baffled the country’s intelligentsia and they appeared both transfixed and horrified by Donald Trump’s approach to both internal power and geopolitics.
Even academia is apparently unable to comprehend how quickly the political establishment has been turned inside out and the narrative has devolved in a barrage of outrage postings on social media.
The core cosmology that binds the Trump and Hitler administrations is a fixation on racial identity, driven by the desire to return their people to a mythical, lost origin. It was Hitler who told his audience that he would make Germany Great Again. Trump is parroting the German with the Make America Great Again narrative, but he wasn’t the first American to use this phrase.
The slogan “Let’s Make America Great Again" was famously used by Ronald Reagan in 1980. Donald Trump trademarked the version but dropped the "Let's" and turned it into the central pillar of his 2016 campaign. While Reagan built his narrative on the concept of American as an honourable partner, Trump like Hitler has built his on the concept of total power — an autocratic reading.
Traditionalists claim they are restoring a lost hierarchy of Priest, Warrior, and Merchant, while the reality is they are chasing a ghost—a Bloodline Mirage constructed to justify the dismantling of the modern state.
By promising a return to this mythical origin, men like Secretary of Defence/slash/war Pete Hegseth offer a sense of belonging to those who feel discarded by progress. They replace the data of the academic with the truth of the blood, turning a blurred vision of history into a sharp weapon for the future.
The myth continues, it says the race lies crushed beneath an alien yoke – and in this dream – a redeemer like Arthur shall return from exile or some distant sleep and drive out the usurper to win back for the people what they lost. The powerful messiah iconoclast returneth.
Every broken people conjures a redeemer. Hitler. Trump. Mussolini. Putin. Orbán. Bolsonaro. Different countries, different centuries, different languages — but the same performance. The saviour descends. He alone sees the wound. He alone can heal it. And healing, in his hands, always requires a villain. Someone to blame. Someone to burn. The outsider. The immigrant. The Jew. The intellectual. The communist. The Muslim. The Black man, the transman, the feminist. The names change. The mechanism never does.
There is a reason the thin skin of democracy shreds so quickly. It happens when calculated populism meets an aggressive rhetoric that dissolves all logic.
Traditionalism is a philosophical-moral system emphasizing a perennial tradition or a true religion that humanity has forgotten. It emphasizes maintaining a society within its foundational forces. Those who adhere to its principles are called Traditionalists. They are far right nationalists and can become National Socialists. Trump is a national socialist, so is Steve Bannon and Pete Hegseth. So was Adolf Hitler.
Traditionalists argue that the Intellectual is a product of the "Dark Age" or Kali Yuga - the end times.