And Mike Huckabee Is Not Exactly The Same As Joseph Goebbels
I doubt many DWT readers are on Mike Huckabee’s mailing list so, let me share what he’s selling now. Yesterday, he told his followers that “The best way to fight for America and her future is to educate your children on Trump and the fight to save America. As parents and grandparents, it’s our responsibility to equip our children with the knowledge and values they need to stand up for the truth in life. In today’s world, that means providing them with information that is more than just basic facts— the need context, understanding and ongoing support. We created The Kinds Guide To President Trump as just one of a series of guides for kids that focus on our country’s history and values:
Engaging Kid-Friendly Guides: Our guides are a great tool to help your children appreciate the principles America stands for… some of our titles include… Donald Trump, the Reagan Revolution, Fighting Indoctrination, the Fake Media and countless others!
Weekly Educational Emails: Learning doesn’t stop with the guide. Each week, your kids will receive our free weekly newsletter, eSpired News: The News Your Kids Need to Know, packed with even more content to keep them informed. From historical facts to current events, these emails are a treasure trove of information.
Access to Exclusive Online Content: As part of our commitment to ongoing education, you’ll have access to a wealth of online resources that expand on what your children learn in the guide. This includes videos, interactive content, and more— all designed to keep them engaged and learning.
By offering these resources, you’re not just providing information— you are helping to shape your children’s future. With The Kid’s Guide and the ongoing support that comes with it, your children will benefit in powerful ways:
Building Stong Values— The Kids Guide not only teaches about President Trump’s legacy but also reinforces the conservative values that you hold dear— patriotism, hard work, and standing up for what’s right.
A Lasting Family Resource— This guide, along with the weekly emails and online content, provides your family with a continuous stream of valuable information that grows with your children.
And here’s the best part: You can get The Kids Guide to President Trump absolutely FREE… We’re dedicated to helping you raise well-informed, confident children who are equipped to face the world with a strong understanding of our country’s true history and values… The Kids Guide to Donald Trump is just the tip of the iceberg… there are countless titles including The Kids Guide to Fighting Socialism, One Nation Under God, Immigration, Law Enforcement, and the American Dream.
Changing topic— not really— I want to make sure you know that immediately after taking power in 1933, the Nazis began indoctrinating German. They understood that shaping the next generation’s beliefs was crucial to maintaining and expanding their ideology. First and foremost, schools were purged of Jewish teachers and those deemed politically unreliable. The curriculum was rewritten to emphasize Nazi ideology, including antisemitism, militarism and extreme nationalism. History was rewritten to glorify German militarism and blame Jews and communists for Germany’s problems. Biology became a racial pseudoscience, teaching children about “Aryan superiority” and the supposed dangers of “racial mixing.” Even math problems involved, for example, calculating the “cost” of caring for disabled individuals, reinforcing eugenicist ideology. Phys Ed, of course was expanded to prepare boys for military service.
And then, of course, was the Hitler Youth (Hitlerjugend) and the League of German Girls (Bund Deutscher Mädel), Hitler Youth became mandatory in 1936 for boys aged 10–18. It trained them in Nazi ideology, military drills and physical fitness, while the League of German Girls focused on preparing girls for their roles as obedient wives and mothers, emphasizing domestic skills, physical fitness and Nazi ideology. By the time of World War II, many Hitler Youth members were so deeply indoctrinated that they volunteered for frontline service, some known to have become fanatical fighters.
Even children’s books— like the ones Huckabee is pushing— included Nazi brainwashing, in their case antisemitic and nationalistic themes, such as The Poisonous Mushroom, which portrayed Jews as inherently dangerous. Nazi propaganda on radio and film targeted young audiences, glorifying Hitler and demonizing enemies while Jewish, Roma, disabled and other “undesirable" children were segregated, expelled from schools, or outright murdered in Nazi euthanasia programs like Aktion T4.
By the time of Hitler’s death in 1945, many German children and teenagers were so deeply indoctrinated that they resisted surrender, fought to the last in Hitler Youth divisions, and couldn’t process their defeat. This widespread and systematic indoctrination left a lasting impact, with post-war reeducation programs required to “de-Nazify” the youth. Some never fully abandoned the ideology instilled in them during their formative years. Presumably they are the base of AfD, the new Nazi Party endorsed by Elon Musk.
There are some unsettling parallels between this Huckabee stuff and the ways authoritarian regimes— including the Nazis— indoctrinated children. The Nazis heavily promoted a heroic image of Hitler— cult of personality— to children through books, school curricula, and organizations like the Hitler Youth. Similarly, this Kids Guide presents Trump as a figure children should admire, linking his leadership to the survival of America. The message isn't about teaching civic literacy or critical thinking; it's about elevating a profoundly flawed political leader as a personal savior. Nazi propaganda told children they were part of a struggle to protect Germany from its so-called enemies (Jews, communists, etc.). The quote from Mike Huckabee in the ad— “The best way to fight for America and her future”— evokes the same kind of siege mentality, where children are recruited into a broader political “battle” rather than being taught to engage critically with democracy. The Nazis produced child-friendly books that presented a distorted version of history, portraying Hitler as a benevolent figure who “rescued” Germany. This Kids Guide similarly simplifies Trump’s presidency into an unquestioning, positive narrative, and, as you would expect, omitting any discussion of his policies’ real-world consequences or anything about his own criminality.
The Nazis romanticized Germany’s past to make children feel that restoring the Reich was their mission. Similarly, Trumpism leans on an idealized version of America— “Make America Great Again”— which encourages children to see his leadership as synonymous with restoring a lost golden age not this more realistic vision:
The techniques used to indoctrinate children into an authoritarian mindset— glorifying a leader, fostering a siege mentality, distorting history and using “education” as a tool for MAGA propaganda— are alarmingly familiar. The biggest red flag is why a children's book about a political leader needs to exist in the first place. In a healthy democracy, children are taught how to think critically about politics, not who to idolize.
While Joseph Goebbels, as Minister of Propaganda, oversaw the overall Nazi effort to shape public opinion— including education and youth indoctrination— there were specific individuals and organizations dedicated to the ideological conditioning of children. Baldur von Schirach and, after 1940 Artur Axmann– as the Reich Youth Leader (Reichsjugendführer)— was directly responsible for the Hitler Youth. Axmann further militarized the Hitler Youth, preparing boys for direct enlistment into the German army, especially as World War II intensified. Trude Mohr was the first leader of the League of German Girls and she was succeeded by Jutta Rüdiger. Bernhard Rust, as Minister of Science, Education, and National Culture, controlled the entire German education system and he restructured the entire school curricula to emphasize racial ideology, German nationalism and loyalty to the Führer while purging teachers and textbooks that didn’t conform to Nazi doctrine, just as Project 2025 insists the GOP do today.
Ernst Krieck and Alfred Baeumler were the Project 2025 fellas of the day— Nazi educational theorists who played significant roles in shaping Nazi pedagogy. Krieck promoted the idea that education should be about forming a racially pure and ideologically loyal Nazi citizen rather than fostering independent thought. Hans Schemm, leader of the National Socialist Teachers’ League, ensured that teachers were trained to spread Nazi propaganda in classrooms.
Essentially, Nazi youth indoctrination— like what Huckabee is trying to do now— was a carefully coordinated effort involving education, extracurricular organizations and relentless propaganda, all designed to create a generation fully devoted to the regime.
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