Far right rallies in 1939 and 2024
In 1939 the German American Bund, an American Nazi organisation, staged a massive rally at Madison Square Garden. Against the backdrop of a giant portrait of George Washington flanked with swastikas, the Bund members paraded in fascist-style uniforms carrying American and Nazi flags.
Eighty-five years later, Donald Trump decided to have a "closing rally" for his presidential campaign at Madison Square Garden. Even before the rally took place, commentators drew parallels between it and the 1939 rally. As the rally turned into a hate-fest of racist, antisemitic, Hispanophobic, and anti-Palestinian rhetoric, the similarities became even more clear.
I don't think a lot of people were aware of the 1939 rally. I'm sure many folks would find it hard to believe that on the eave of World War II there was a large American Nazi gathering in Madison Square Garden. And where to people go to learn? Wikipedia. And the spike in traffic shows they did just that.
