Eighty years ago this week, 20,000 Americans attended a Nazi rally in Madison Square Garden. That was at a time when the Nazi regime in Germany was in the midst of building its concentration camps and was a mere months away from invading Poland, thus beginning World War 2 (or what historian Eric Hobsbawm referred to as the end of the 31 Years War). Don’t believe me? There’s a short film documentary of a portion of the event (A Night at the Garden) that you can view here.

The film is intended not merely as a documentary but also as a warning, according to its director, Marshall Curry (see the story in Vox for more details). There was at the time a vocal right-wing media and openly Nazi or fascist public figures who were given plenty of time to stir up hatred, and who did pose a genuine threat to the US republic.

Perhaps it is best to bear in mind that there has always been and always will be some sort of authoritarian undercurrent – some subset of our people (and this is true in other nations as well) who can be mobilized by some despot if the right set of circumstances emerges. Even a cursory reading of scholarship on authoritarianism should make that point crystal clear. Whether or not authoritarians are the product of social learning or heredity is still being debated. What cannot be debated is that this subset of humanity exists, and is at the moment plainly visible. The difference in the US between now and 1939 is that we’ve (mostly) replaced swastikas with MAGA hats. This is an undercurrent that has been gaining media exposure and influence consistently over the past three decades after several decades of containment following WWII. If you ever followed David Neiwert’s work, you’ll be well aware. Even Neiwert was never on your radar, it was clear something ugly was stirring by the early 1990s, and was almost ready for prime time by 2008 (Sarah Palin was just a few years ahead of her time).

My hope is that you will watch the video, and give it some thought. Those most likely to even be looking at this are not authoritarians. That said, complacency is not our friend. Things do in some ways seem less bleak than they did a couple years ago, but we’re still staring into the abyss.

As I am sure Sinclair Lewis would have long ago warned, it can happen here. In fact it almost did once. And while history may not necessarily repeat, we have to admit history does have one hell of a tendency to rhyme.