By Occupy 2.5 Staff | June 24, 2025

In Berlin, 1939, journalist William Shirer wrote, “You could smell war coming.” The streets were tense, the rallies louder, the lies bolder. What had once been a fragile democracy had surrendered to the illusion of strength — and the storm followed.

Today in America, we know that smell.

From red-state militias patrolling Pride events, to lawmakers openly threatening political enemies, to mobs chanting for civil war on livestreams, the signs are unmistakable. Violence is no longer a threat — it’s a tactic. It is being mainstreamed, packaged as patriotism, and increasingly deployed with impunity.

We’ve reached the stage where elected officials wear body armor to town halls, where statehouses are stormed and judges doxxed, where gunmen impersonate police to assassinate public servants — as happened in Minnesota on June 14.

Let’s not kid ourselves. This isn’t just fringe chaos. This is the architecture of fascism, and it’s being built brick by brick, with the blessing — and often, the encouragement — of political leaders who know exactly what they’re doing.

In Berlin, the war came because too few resisted in time. Shirer reported it. The world ignored it — until it exploded.

If you’re smelling something foul in America right now, you’re not imagining it. The rot is real, and the stakes are no longer abstract.

To those still sitting on the fence: There are no sidelines in this fight. Silence is consent. Neutrality is surrender.

This is the moment we either confront the descent into political violence — or we live under it.

Stop them now. Before we all breathe in the smoke.

References:

Shirer, W. L. (1941). Berlin Diary: The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent, 1934–1941. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf.

Levitsky, S., & Ziblatt, D. (2018). How Democracies Die. New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group.

Snyder, T. (2017). On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century. New York, NY: Tim Duggan Books.

Ziblatt, D., & Levitsky, S. (2023). Tyranny of the Minority: Why American Democracy Reached the Breaking Point. New York, NY: Crown Publishing Group.

Gellately, R. (2001). Backing Hitler: Consent and Coercion in Nazi Germany. Oxford University Press.

Southern Poverty Law Center. (2025). Hate and Extremism in the U.S.: Annual Report 2025. https://www.splcenter.org/