Cinema News: Nazi nods become the norm

January 15, 2026 | View in browser

By Anita Chabria

Columnist

Hello and happy Thursday, if happiness still exists. I'm Times columnist Anita Chabria, filling in for Washington bureau chief Michael Wilner.

Last week, a man in Minneapolis shot a woman in the face, exclaimed, "F—ing bitch!" then walked away without even checking to see whether she was alive. She was not.

We've all read enough about the killing of Renee Nicole Good by an ICE agent to know what I'm referring to.

Today, we're putting that death in the larger context of this American moment, which is not a great one. Especially since the Trump administration is increasingly, openly embracing white Christian nationalism, with more than a hint of Nazi influence.

That's an authoritarian ideology that puts white men first, white women second, and everyone else below that. It often justifies violence to enforce its order, especially aimed at groups it wants to subdue — including white women when they get out of line.

Recently, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security posted a recruitment ad with the slogan, "We'll have our home again." For those of you not into white supremacy, that's the name of a song that's popular with Proud Boys and other white extremist groups.

Some of the other lyrics, chanted like some military ballad sung by a basement-dwelling teen, promise that "by blood or sweat ... by God, we'll have our home," which has been taken over by "foreigners."

Not subtle.

Trust your eyes

And then there is this one, set to a cover of Tears for Fears' "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" — and glorifying immigration military might using Bible quotes. It features typography at least similar to the calligraphy-inspired Fraktur font used by Germany's Third Reich.

So much for separation of church and state, never mind the Nazi stuff.

And folks, just an aside here — but does no one in the Trump administration actually understand music? Like, can they not process the lyrics? This particular Cold War-era song is about the evils of power and the human lust for it.

Not to be outdone, the U.S. Department of Labor has offered up a gusher of far-right, homeland-themed content, some of it veering directly into conspiracy theory.

Take, for example, this post that encourages us to "Trust the Plan. Trust Trump." Remember QAnon, that insane and insanely popular far-right conspiracy that posited a Jewish-led international cabal actually did rule the world, in between drinking the juices of small children to remain forever young? QAnon believed members had to "trust the plan" and its leader, Trump.

Then there's the recurring theme that America is for Americans, the implication being that's white, so-called "heritage" folks who think they're an upper class of citizen in a life-or-death battle with immigrants, legal or not.

"The future belongs to the Patriot. Embrace Americanism," reads one recent Department of Labor post in this vein. "One Homeland. One People. One Heritage," reads another.

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Actions and words

Which brings us back to our opener, the killing of Renee Nicole Good and the casualness of the hateful statement that followed the bullets.

Fascism, even authoritarianism, are big, nebulous words. It's hard to know exactly when a society or country slides from democracy into something not-democracy — even when the leaders are posting their ideology publicly.

But one way we can measure is by the actions of those in power, be it an armed agent or a president, against those public statements.

Shooting a woman dead, then disparaging her gender is a pretty clear sign of the misogyny rampant in white Christian nationalism. Especially since this particular woman was a lesbian, something the shooter more than likely knew since Renee Nicole Good was with her wife, who was interacting with the agent.

Fascism, and white supremacy, relies on a traditional role for women as subordinate to men. When women are included, they must conform in a certain way — here's looking at you, Kristi Noem. But by and large, authoritarians demand a social order in which the rulers are men, and everyone else obeys or faces punishment.

Noem, the day after Good was killed, gave a news conference declaring Good a "domestic terrorist," while standing at a lectern with the slogan "One of ours. All of yours."

Some folks claimed that was a throwback to a Nazi slogan, referencing a mass murder committed to avenge the death of an SS officer, but it turns out there's no clear historical record of that.

But it certainly reads like a threat.

Still don't believe? Another Minnesotan told MPRnews.org that she was stopped and detained a few days later by an ICE agent who she says told her, "You guys gotta stop obstructing us, that's why that lesbian b—— is dead."

So "F—ing bitch" isn't so much an aside as the point. If you want to know just how deep we are into troubling times, strip this tragic incident down to its bare bones.

Last week, a man in Minneapolis shot a woman in the face, exclaimed, "F—ing bitch!" and walked away without even checking to see whether she was alive.

President Trump and his followers are celebrating those actions as justified and brave, part of the enforcement of a new order for a new America.