BrainDead, can recommend.
this post was submitted on 05 May 2025
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Black mirror. Maybe a ww2 documentary
Babylon 5.
Rewatched this again a year ago and it has never been more relevent
Star wars episode 3.
Veep is probably more generally accurate.
Idiocracy
They found the smartest person in the world and listened to them to fix their problems... Not at all accurate.
Once zoomers can vote and Mr Beast gets elected, things will change.
I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.
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we're in the "what if they didn't" timeline....
We’re only 20 years after Joe got frozen and he hasn’t been thawed yet. We still have 480 years before things get that bad.
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They also tried to publicly execute him.
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The historical precedent is the rise of Nazi Germany during the 1920s and 1930s. You should now be somewhere in the early 1930s.
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The Man in the High Castle.
It’s a novel, but “It Can’t Happen Here” follows a scenario where a populist becomes President and removes all opposition.
1984 by George Orwell
Not TV (at least not that I am aware of), but it was the first thing to come to my mind. They made a movie if you prefer but, as always, you'll get more from the book.
It's not that long of a book either, and it's an important part of our culture; for the wrong reasons I'd argue, as surveillance is what "1984" has come to stand for but is a more minor part of the book compared to controlling thought.
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The Plot Against America by Philip Roth. Great book and a TV miniseries. An alternative history that has Lindbergh winning the presidency in the 30s and the US government enacting fascism domestically. The book does a great job of portraying the chaos that ensues. The series is also very good.
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VEEP
Seriously. “Today the secretary of defense with a drinking problem reveals military secrets to a reporter due to a texting error.”
Along the same lines, from the same writer/creator, Armando Iannucci, there's The Death of Stalin. The absurdity of how the inner circle navigated the politics around Stalin, including after his death, is hilarious but also a good look at how these power dynamics work in an authoritarian, despotic government.
Or also from Iannucci, Avenue 5, which basically is set in the future where all of this political nonsense continues, and is in the background of a comedy about a space cruise ship.
I've tried watching veep twice and couldn't
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Elysium; the Matt Damon movie where the rich live on a space station and leave the rest of us to rot.
I'm not saying it's what's going on right this moment, but it's the end-goal of everything that Musk, Bezos, etc... are doing.
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Idiocracy
There’s a satirical (well, don’t know how long it will be considered that) movie about it… it’s called Idiocracy
I used to think this movie was funny but now it's just kind of painful because it's largely true.
Except Camacho was a caring president, in his own way.
He is the most unrealistic part of the film, he had a problem, found the most qualified person to fix it, listened to them (eventually), and then didnt take credit for it.
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The Prequel to Schindler's List
Ever heard of the rise of Nazism in Germany?
The bobiverse series (about a guy who is hit by a car right after signing up for a cryogenics thing and then wakes in the future to find out he's basically been legislated to have no rights and is stuck into a self-replicating drone for space exploration, it's pretty good) kind of starts off setting the backstory like it. The christofascism just started a bit later.
Obviously it's not one to one but given Trump's performative Christianity it was all I could think about around the failed coup on Jan 6.
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A lot of what he talks about prior to previous insurrections are pretty similar to what's happening now.
They also have a podcast called It Could Happen Here. Originally it talked about what to expect if a civil war breaks out basically, but it's now a news show about stuff going on and also with some leftist political discussion thrown in.
(Robert Evans created these, Behind the Bastards, and wrote the book It Could Happen Here.)
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The Ultra podcast has two seasons and goes in-depth into previous attempts by fascists at taking over the US government.
Sitting members of Congress aiding and abetting a plot to overthrow the government. Insurrectionists criminally charged with plotting to end American democracy for good. Justice Department prosecutors under crushing political pressure. Rachel Maddow Presents: Ultra is the all-but-forgotten true story of good, old-fashioned American extremism getting supercharged by proximity to power.
When extremist elected officials get caught plotting against America with the violent ultra right, this is the story of the lengths they will go to… to cover their tracks.
Just wanted to re-thank you. On to season two and have already recommended this to two friends. Absolute cracker.
I'm glad you're finding it interesting. Season 2 is even better in my opinion.
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I find the last days of the Qing dynasty China to be somewhat analogous. Institutional rot, rampant corruption, a complete failure to adapt to crises and open hostility to anyone proposing workable solutions or trying to learn from foreign examples. Basically the two voices in government were, "Learn how guns work while completely refusing to understand the scientific principles that allowed them to be developed" and "Learn absolutely nothing." The "lesser evil" was woefully inadequate, and once the government finally collapsed, both factions that emerged (communists and nationalist) were far more influenced by Western ideas than even the most radical in the Qing government were.
The wave of fascism going throughput Europe in the 19th and 20th century of course.
But the state of the American people is also portrayed well in The Hunger Games (books and movies).
Literally the first novel ever written "Sinuhe" speaks of a very similar crisis in ancient Egypt.
The Twilight Zone (2019), "The Wunderkind"
Synopsis: A down-on-his-luck campaign manager (John Cho) is determined to get a kid (Jacob Tremblay) elected as the next President of the United States.
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