MAGA Jews Must Remember the German National Jews

Jewish Americans adopting hard-right ultra-nationalist politics concerningly resemble their naive German counterparts before Hitler’s rise to power.

This article was first published in the Times of Israel.

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Little today is known of the Verband Nationaldeutscher Juden in popular histories of the Second World War and Nazi Germany.

As a political science student, I first encountered them last year after reading Timothy Snyder’s ‘On Tyranny,’ a book that warns Americans about what Snyder considers proto-fascism, offering a survival guide for future counter-fascists.

Proto-fascism, for those unfamiliar, describes a state preceding complete fascism, marked by early indicators like extreme nationalism, disdain for democratic norms, glorification of violence, an idolization of traditional pasts, and a mindset of constant victimhood combined with a paranoid struggle against often imagined enemies.

For those who want to understand proto-fascism in depth, I recommend reading Umberto Eco’s essay “Ur-Fascism.”

Now that proto-fascism is adequately defined, who were the German National Jews?

Simply put, they were pro-Hitler Jews who thought siding with the Nazi Party would show they were well-assimilated Germans and that they put Germany first.

Doing so, they hoped in vain that once Hitler came to power, he would moderate his politics and renege on parts of his anti-Semitic agenda, a futile hope similar to that of the Hispanic voter coalition who backed Trump.

The German National Jews were notorious for nudging other Jews to vote for Adolf Hitler as Chancellor in the August 1934 German referendum. They notably published a statement arguing that Jews ought to demonstrate that they “have always in war or peace placed the good of the German people and the German Fatherland above our own good.”

The organization hailed the Nazi rise to power in 1933, despite the “rigors for us,” viewing it as “the only means to clear away the damage done in fourteen unhappy years by un-German elements.”

“To the German fatherland belongs body and soul that portion of the Jews who, like ourselves, know no other fatherland than Germany,” the German National Jews’ statement read as they urged their fellow Jews to vote for Hitler.

When I learned about the VnJ, I observed they have similarities with many of my politically conservative Jewish friends, who have fully adopted the radical and ultranationalist aspects of the Trump agenda, showcasing a tragic doublethink—a concept from George Orwell’s 1984 where people accept conflicting beliefs at the same time, often due to political indoctrination.

It is not just my friends but several prominent Jewish figures working with or allied with the administration who demonstrate such doublethink.

How can one who studies the Torah, shows respect for Jewish values, all of a sudden embrace a diabolical pseudo-Christian administration that is the antithesis of Jewish values, through its persecution of the stranger, rampant corruption with corporate bribes masquerading as gifts as they enter the White House, and tolerance of openly anti-Semitic individuals?

Of course, here I am excluding White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, to whom one can, instead of doublethink, more aptly attribute a psychopathic desire to inflict pain on non-white individuals and political rivals. And, I do not include in consideration those who have completely sold their faith.

But to those MAGA Republican Jews who still adhere to the Torah and its values, their embrace of Trump and the great wickedness with which he corrupts America stands baffling

Often, when I point out to those among this group who are my friends the contradictions between beliefs and the actions of prominent MAGA figures, they go to great lengths to hide their cognitive dissonance.

They gaslight themselves and vainly insist that what I highlight isn’t ‘really MAGA’ whenever a well-known Trump supporter uses an anti-Semitic dogwhistle hidden within nationalist doublespeak.

This cognitive dissonance becomes strenuous when the question concerns right-wing attitudes on Israel. I do not wish to name any of my friends here, but their sentiments are similar to those of some public MAGA figures of Jewish heritage, so in the examples I give, I shall cite the public figures.

No one stands out more than conspiracy theorist and polemicist Laura Loomer, notorious for her racist attitudes toward Indians, even though Indian people have historically been friendly and supportive of the Jewish community.

Loomer is influential in MAGA circles, known for her radical embrace of extreme MAGA propaganda and having access to President Donald Trump’s ear.

The MAGA reincarnation of the radical French revolutionary Jean-Paul Marat, calling for every MAGA moderate to be politically guillotined, Loomer has been instrumental in the MAGA reign of terror inflicted on the Republican Party.

At the same time, Loomer is a big advocate for Zionism. It is safe to say that Loomer is among the Zionist Jews who, due to hostility from the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, defected to the Republican Party for what used to be its then religious support of the Jewish state.

As the Republican Party, amid Trump’s rise and the internal MAGA coup, aligned with fringe groups supporting pagan racial mysticism, Christian nationalism, conspiracy theories, and antisemitism, Loomer was among the few naive individuals who thought that displaying their strong right-wing credentials would persuade the fringe to become more tolerant of Israel and shift their focus away from antisemitism and anti-Zionism towards Islamophobia.

However, MAGA’s stance on the Israel-Palestinian conflict turned out to be disappointing for Zionist Jews like Loomer, who expected their loyalty to result in unwavering support for Israel. Loomer would pitifully flail her arms in denial when confronted with the bitter truth, claiming antisemitism is not authentic MAGA.

While the Trump administration made high-profile gestures, such as moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and brokering the Abraham Accords during his first term, the broader MAGA movement’s stance had grown increasingly inconsistent and hostile by 2025.

The silent majority within the movement, including white nationalists and conspiracy theorists, often espouse anti-Zionist views, conflating Jews with globalist conspiracies or expressing indifference to Israel’s security.

More mainstream MAGA figures have also voiced criticisms.

For instance, in July 2025, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a vocal MAGA Republican, became the first congressional Republican to label Israel’s actions in Gaza as a “genocide,” stating, “It’s the most truthful and easiest thing to say that Oct 7th in Israel was horrific and all hostages must be returned, but so is the genocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza.”

Similarly, Steve Bannon, a key MAGA strategist, predicted a collapse in support, noting, “Now President Trump’s public repudiation of one of the central tenets of [Israeli Prime Minister] Bibi’s [Netanyahu’s] Gaza strategy—‘starving’ Palestinians—will only hasten a collapse of support.”

Tucker Carlson, another influential MAGA commentator, has invited Holocaust denialists onto his show and allowed pro-Palestinian activists to have a platform.

Megyn Kelly echoed this sentiment, warning, “Israel, whether it realizes it or not, has made itself the villain of the world in letting this thing go on so long. They have lost support among its dearest friends.”

Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA and a bridge to younger conservatives, questioned the alignment outright in June 2025: “The question is also, I think fundamentally at its core: How does the America First foreign policy doctrine and foreign policy agenda [align with U.S. support for Israel]?”

The result is the emergence of a “pro-Israel antisemitism” paradox within the MAGA right, where support for the Jewish state coexists with attacks on American Jews’ place in society and on Israel’s security operations.

This is very much like the Zionist antisemites of Europe, who supported the idea of a Jewish state just so that they could expel all Jews within their societies to the Jewish state.

MAGA Jews stateside are in a conundrum.

On one hand is the disrepute brought to the community by diabolical figures like Stephen Miller—Trump’s Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and a key architect of the administration’s immigration agenda—who operate with unprecedented influence and ungodly sociopathy and psychopathy, pushing policies that reflect a harsh, unchecked worldview bordering on psychopathy in their disregard for humanitarian concerns.

On the other hand, lies Trump’s use of Jews as a means to an end rather than an end in themselves. Trump’s second administration tactfully weaponizes claims of fighting antisemitism to advance its radical immigration agenda, creating a motte-and-bailey trap for Jewish supporters. The “motte” is the defensible position: combating genuine antisemitism, such as post-October 7, 2023, incidents on campuses. However, this quickly shifts to the “bailey”—broader, controversial policies like deporting pro-Palestinian protesters or monitoring immigrants’ social media for perceived antisemitic content, which is an excuse for broader deportations of foreigners and broader surveillance of immigrants.

The administration frames immigration crackdowns as anti-hate measures—for example, by linking deportations to campus protests. This tactic allows Trump to deny accusations of white supremacy, as he can claim to be acting in the name of fighting antisemitism.

Furthermore, the alignment of some Jews with the MAGA movement provides a veneer of legitimacy to a host of endogenous white supremacists and Christian nationalists who otherwise despise Jews. This Jewish participation allows MAGAts to sell Jewish membership in the movement as a false reassurance for those who might hesitate to join the chauvinistic and hate-filled MAGA movement.

Once MAGA no longer needs Jews, however, they’ll toss them aside, as is becoming increasingly evident. These Jewish supporters will be left without a political home, as progressives will view them as tainted by their association with MAGA.

For Jewish supporters of the MAGA movement, the history of the Verband Nationaldeutscher Juden offers a stark and cautionary parallel.

The VnJ, active in Weimar Germany, were middle-class Jews who embraced a hyper-patriotic, nationalist stance. They saw themselves as “Germans of the Jewish faith,” prioritizing their national identity and aligning with conservative and nationalist movements. This is similar to how certain Jewish MAGA supporters today adopt a populist, hyper-nationalist “America First” stance, often putting loyalty to the movement above broader Jewish communal connections, and deceiving themselves into believing both can coexist.

The VnJ’s support for Adolf Hitler in the 1933 elections and the 1934 referendum was based on the tragic delusion that the Nazi regime would differentiate between the “loyal,” assimilated Jews they thought they were and those they considered “un-German.”

This mirrors the hope among some MAGA Jews that the movement will protect “good” Jews—such as strong Zionists or those who support its policies on Israel—while only targeting “disloyal” elements, like progressive or anti-Zionist Jews, and the enemies of the Jewish people.

However, this hope was tragically misplaced. The Nuremberg Laws of 1935 stripped all Jews, including VnJ members, of their citizenship and rights, regardless of their prior loyalty. The organization itself was forcibly dissolved.

Likewise, just like the Latinos for Trump coalition and the VnJ, MAGA Jews risk becoming a dark joke for those warning minority groups against trusting the very chauvinist groups that seek their own destruction.