Glueck Auf

This HBO show was very well produced and superbly directed. It's based on an intriguing, 2004 alternate history novel by Philip Roth. Mostly true to the book, the 6-episode television miniseries was created and written by David Simon and Ed Burns. Great casting and acting (especially Morgan Hector as Herman, and as his sons young Philip and older Sandy, actors Azhy Robertson and Caleb Malis, respectively). Convincing costumes and remarkably detailed set design immerse the audience in a late-1930s Newark Jewish neighborhood just as Charles A. Lindbergh, a strongly anti-war, nationalistic presidential candidate, has just defeated Franklin Roosevelt. We see the nation that Herman loves begin to gradually bend toward Germany's National Socialism as the president's agenda and programs begin to fundamentally transform America. And as well, his family's and his neighborhood's once-secure place in it. Each character's personality is consistent, believable, and always played with just the right amount of emotion. But this IS a political commentary, and the playwright very unabashedly has an ax to grind--namely, suggesting that the fictitious "America First" movement of a Charles "Lucky" Lindbergh presidency would have plunged the United States into the same anti-Jewish, fascist dictatorship that swept over Germany in the late 1930s. It's intended as a cautionary tale of today's political environment. And in the Episode 6 podcast commentary that accompanies the show, writer David Simon admits the same, suggesting that Donald Trump is as "unfit" for the presidency as Lindbergh would've been. But as a conservative, I see The Plot's disturbing parallels to today's political environment quite a bit differently than Simon. And I believe the analogies are much more on the mark with my take. In short... --Roosevelt, the guardian of traditional American values = President Trump --"Lucky Lindy", the politically vapid, useful tool of a European despot, bought with an award presented to him by Hermann Goering = President Obama, the honorary Nobel prize winner. --Violent Brown Shirts, KKK = ANTIFA, New Black Panther Party, Seattle-style anarchists --Ineffectual Police, justice in peril = Baltimore under Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake; Progressives releasing convicted felons in the name of social justice. --Corrupt, Politicized Feds surveilling,harassing, and jailing the administration's political foes = Comey/Brennen/Clapper/Lerner/et al --Herman accepting a pistol as his family's last line of defense against government-ignored anarchy = Pro 2d Amendment advocates, the NRA --Walter Winchell, the brave, lonely voice of those who oppose the National Socialists = Fox News --Anti-Roosevelt print and radio media = Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, Google, obliterating the opposition's message under guise of banning "hate speech" --Virulently Anti-Semitic Politicians (embodied by Henry Ford, a member of the Lindbergh Cabinet) = Progressive darlings Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Viewing "The Plot Against America" through this (less-distorted) lens can make Plot a powerfully cautionary tale for Conservatives, too. Because we have seen in these times that real Progressive ideologues can be every bit as toxic to a Democracy as are these imaginary fascist ones.