Pete Hegseth and “Department of War” Go Full Nazi Germany in Rebrand

If it looks like a fascist, smells like a fascist, and says fascist things…it is a fascist

By: Austin Abbring

October 6, 2026

I would say these two images side by side speak for themselves. There is a reason such a large number of people accurately point out the fascism on full display within this administration. Incidentally, that fascism is precisely what the Republican Party has been shifting towards for decades and is finally fully championing in this Trump era. In a rebrand of the “Department of War”, Pete Hegseth stood proudly in front of a more simplified monochrome eagle-emblazoned logo which is eerily similar to the Reichsadler of the Third Reich of Nazi Germany. By eerily similar, I mean it could not be more emblematic. 

This is nothing new for this administration; they just finally have some symbolism to make the deciphering no longer transparent. This is a full-blown appeal to nazism right here in the United States. Nearly one hundred years removed from the ultimate sacrifices made by tens of millions of people around the globe by nations with a unified goal of defeating fascism and imperialism, the Secretary of Defense of one of the countries that aided in that fight just pissed on every single hero’s grave and pissed directly on those veterans still alive today. Hello? I almost have no words to describe the humiliation and the horrors I feel watching what is supposed to be a democratic country just completely backslide against everything we once stood for in exchange for power funded by the billionaire class that has shaped our rapidly developing oligarchy. It is almost the exact playbook to a “T” from Germany in the 1930s. 

The entire rhetoric surrounding immigration and border security was already enough evidence. Stephen Miller and Donald Trump’s continuous branding of immigrants as violent criminals, as vermin, and as mass people poisoning the blood of America are practically direct quotes from nazi propaganda. Again, I am old enough to remember when fascism, imperialism, and nazism was bad. Do you remember when we did not attempt to defend white nationalism and “purification” projects? Do you remember when we did not idolize the pillars of nazi Germany and of fascism? Those were pleasant times, weren't they?

Instead, mere hours after Renée Good was murdered by ICE agents back in January, you had then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem behind a podium that, on the exterior, said “One of ours, all of yours”. One of those collective punishment phrases that may not be tied directly to Nazi propaganda, but is certainly Nazi-aligned. The Lidice Massacre immediately comes to mind. If you are part of an administration trying to escape fascist and Nazi-alleged attacks by your counterparts, it would serve your best interest to distance yourself from such a movement, its rhetoric, and its actions as much as humanly possible. If you don’t distance yourself and you intentionally tether yourself to that legislation, rule of law, and language - as Noem’s lectern once did and as Pete Hegseth’s rebrand of “Department of War” does now - then that is an ideology that does not make you uncomfortable. It is unproblematic and is not a deal breaker. To the rest of the normal Americans who at the very least care about freedom, democracy, and not reviving a legacy that resulted in the deaths and displacements of over one hundred million people, that is simple to disavow. Maybe in a different timeline, Pete Hegseth would have been immediately relieved of his duties as Secretary of Defense for this, instead of corporate media barely mentioning it in their news coverage, since they are bought by the same people who donated to this administration and fund the Republican Party. Maybe in a different timeline, Pete Hegseth and this administration don’t exist. That feels like a more heartwarming way to end this post, especially since, when I first started writing it, it seemed to have zero silver linings. If we had a functioning opposition party, this whole story would be a slam dunk ahead of the midterms. Instead, you will have to rely on your own gumption. Remember the image at the top when you walk into your voting booth or stamp the envelope for your absentee ballot. It is not too late to begin fighting fascism in this country.