Orwell’s ‘1984’ Is No Longer Fiction — It’s the Republican Platform
Truth is malleable, history is rewritten, and loyalty to the leader trumps loyalty to the country. This isn’t dystopian fiction — it’s American politics in 2025.
Author of Your Primary Power: How Extremism Captured American Politics and Why Strategic Voting is the Way Out
If George Orwell could wander through American politics today, he’d recognize the operating system. 1984 was written as a warning, not a manual. Yet Donald Trump and a MAGA-captured Republican Party have normalized tactics straight out of the novel: rewriting the past, twisting language, suppressing inconvenient facts, flipping enemies into allies, and enforcing loyalty through fear.
This isn’t a matter of overheated metaphor. It’s observable, documented behavior—happening in public, in institutions, and in policy. What follows is a narrative of how the pieces fit together now, in 2025.
Editing the Past to Control the Present
In Orwell’s world, the “memory hole” swallows facts that contradict the party line. In ours, it looks like a respected national museum quietly rephrasing impeachment history.
At the end of July, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History restored an exhibit panel to an older wording that says “only three presidents have seriously faced removal”—Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton—after references to Donald Trump’s two impeachments were removed from the display. The museum has since said Trump’s impeachments will be included again in an update “in the coming weeks,” but the interim omission set off alarms: when public memory is curated to exclude inconvenient facts, the result is not neutrality—it’s a tilted reality.
The stakes aren’t trivial. Trump is the only U.S. president impeached twice. Erasing that—even temporarily—trains the public to accept that politically awkward truths can be airbrushed away.
This same impulse to recast reality shows up in attempts, in some right-wing circles, to treat Ghislaine Maxwell less as a convicted sex trafficker and more as a political foil or quasi-victim when the story’s contours stop serving partisan needs. Victims themselves have sounded the alarm about moves that look like rehabilitation by narrative rather than by fact.
And now, we have something that feels uncomfortably close to the fictional Ministry of Truth itself — the place where Winston Smith, the protagonist of 1984, worked, tasked with rewriting historical documents so they always aligned with the Party’s latest position. In 2025 America, the Justice Department and FBI appear to be playing a similar role. The most glaring example: reports that as many as 1,000 FBI agents have been combing through the Epstein files, flagging — and in some cases redacting — references to Trump. Just as Orwell’s Ministry of Truth could alter the past with a stroke of the pen, these real-world redactions risk leaving future Americans with a version of history that has been politically laundered to protect the leader.
But the filtering doesn’t stop at the Justice Department. Inside Trump’s own White House, the Ministry of Truth dynamic plays out daily. Staff understand that bringing him unwelcome facts can mean losing their jobs, so information is curated before it reaches his desk. Briefings highlight only data that makes him look strong — favorable polls, cherry-picked job numbers, selective economic stats — while anything that might contradict the preferred narrative is softened, buried, or omitted entirely. The result is a leader living inside a tailor-made reality, with the machinery of government acting as his personal fact-screening service. In Orwell’s terms, this isn’t just rewriting the past — it’s engineering the present so the leader never has to see anything that might force him to revise the fiction.
The mechanics are different, but the effect is hauntingly familiar—truth reshaped not by new facts, but by power deciding which facts survive.
Even more troubling, a Library of Congress website that publishes the Constitution annotated recently and briefly omitted key portions of Article 1—including the section guaranteeing the right to habeas corpus. Officials called it a coding error and restored the text the same day, but the fact that such a disappearance could happen at all is, at best, bizarre—and at worst, dystopian.
“Who controls the past controls the future; who controls the present controls the past.” —Orwell, 1984
Doublethink and the Cult of the Contradiction
Orwell’s Doublethink is the ability to hold two contradictory beliefs at once and accept both. The modern GOP has operationalized it—not as an accident, but as a loyalty test.
Back the Blue — until Trump says “fight like hell.” For years, Republicans wrapped themselves in pro-police branding. Yet the same party cheers a leader who told his rally to “fight like hell” on January 6 and sparked an assault that left police officers beaten and dead. Trump is no longer facing indictments—his 2024 re-election and return to the presidency have erased those legal threats—but the contradiction remains: law-and-order until the law stands in the leader’s way.
The Israeli flag paradox. Scroll MAGA social feeds and you’ll see Israeli flags as profile images—often alongside accounts belonging to the same movement whose adherents marched in Charlottesville chanting “Jews will not replace us.” The unspoken calculation? In their worldview, anti-Muslim animus outweighs anti-Semitism when picking sides. It’s not a reconciliation of values; it’s a hierarchy of hatreds.
Support the Troops — but smear their leaders. The GOP still invokes military valor, but Trump called America’s war dead “suckers” and “losers” (confirmed by multiple sources) and publicly attacks generals who contradict him. In Doublethink, “support” doesn’t mean defend or respect—it means obey the leader’s narrative about the military, whatever it happens to be.
Defend the Constitution — while undermining it. MAGA Republicans insist they are “constitutional conservatives,” yet they backed Trump’s 2020 coup attempt, called for “termination” of parts of the Constitution, and now endorse state-level moves to give partisan legislatures control over election certification. The document is sacred—until it’s in the way.
Free Speech — for approved views only. In theory, they defend the First Amendment. In practice, school boards ban books, legislators punish teachers for classroom discussion of race or sexuality, and dissenters are harassed or purged. “Freedom” exists for speech that aligns with the narrative.
Religious Freedom — for Christians. MAGA rhetoric frames “religious liberty” as a universal good, but in practice, it’s a shield for Christian nationalism—denying equal protection to other faiths, especially Islam.
Drain the Swamp — by flooding it with loyalists. Trump’s new term has been defined by loyalty-over-competence appointments: Jared L. Wise, who was recorded on January 6 yelling “kill ’em” at police, pardoned and now serving as a senior Justice Department adviser; Ed Martin, a Stop the Steal organizer, appointed Interim U.S. Attorney for D.C., where he promptly disbanded the Capitol Siege unit and dismissed assault-on-police cases. The swamp isn’t drained—it’s repopulated with those who will protect the leader above the law.
Doublethink isn’t “mere hypocrisy.” It’s training—conditioning supporters to override fact with allegiance on command.
Infallibility as a Feature, Not a Flaw
In 1984, Big Brother isn’t merely obeyed — he’s revered, presented as infallible, his every claim treated as truth no matter how absurd. Trump occupies a similar role within MAGA, where the measure of loyalty is how uncritically one accepts his boasts and narratives. He claims to have won 18 club championships at his own golf courses, to have drawn the largest inauguration crowd in history, to have had “the biggest Electoral College victory since Reagan.” None are true, but inside the movement, accuracy is irrelevant — the point is to affirm them.
The mythology extends far beyond golf trophies and crowd sizes. He’s cast as a tireless worker who sleeps only a few hours a night, a strategic genius who “always wins” even when losing, a victim of endless “witch hunts” whose exoneration is inevitable, and a business titan whose bankruptcies are reframed as masterstrokes. Even policy failures become proof of cunning — if a promise goes unkept, supporters insist it was part of a “long game” outsiders can’t understand.
In this culture, public agreement with the leader’s self-mythology isn’t optional; it’s a ritual. To question it is not just to doubt a man, but to commit heresy against the movement itself. Like Orwell’s Party, MAGA doesn’t just demand obedience — it demands belief.
When Fewer Facts Become “Fewer Problems”
In 1984, the regime controls not just beliefs, but information itself. You don’t have to prove two plus two equals five if you can ban the arithmetic lesson.
The American analogue is subtler, but familiar. During the pandemic, Trump repeatedly argued that if we tested less, we’d see fewer cases—and admitted he’d asked officials to “slow the testing down.” This wasn’t about statistical nuance; it was an open endorsement of hiding reality by measuring it less.
The instinct persists. In 2025, Trumpworld attacks economic, crime, and immigration statistics that don’t fit the preferred story. When data can be dismissed as “fake” simply because it’s inconvenient, governing becomes a matter of perception management, not truth.
That instinct just escalated: recently, President Trump fired Bureau of Labor Statistics Commissioner Erika L. McEntarfer hours after a weak July jobs report and steep downward revisions for prior months. McEntarfer—confirmed by the Senate in 2024—was removed after Trump claimed the numbers were “rigged.” Former BLS leaders, economists, and nonpartisan statistical groups warned the firing undermines the independence of federal data and risks politicizing the very numbers that workers, businesses, and markets rely on.
Trump has now nominated her replacement: E.J. Antoni, a Heritage Foundation economist who has publicly called for suspending the BLS’s closely watched monthly jobs report, claiming its methodology is “fundamentally flawed.” On Fox Business, Antoni said, “Until it is corrected, the BLS should suspend issuing the monthly job reports but keep publishing the more accurate, though less timely, quarterly data.” This shift would replace timely snapshots with slower, more malleable releases — making it far easier to control the political narrative around the economy.
The move is not just about personnel changes — it’s about controlling what the public sees and when they see it. In Orwell’s world, history could be rewritten overnight. In Trump’s America, the numbers themselves can be delayed, reframed, or erased to match the leader’s version of reality.
Allies Swap Places: The Zelenskyy Meeting and a Warped Map of the World
Another Orwellian hallmark is the state’s ability to flip enemies and allies—and insist they’d always been that way.
Since 1945, U.S. alliance structure has rested on NATO and a clear-eyed view of Russian imperial aggression. Ukraine, while not a NATO member, has been treated as an ally—especially after Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022. That’s why the February 28, 2025 Oval Office meeting with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy landed so hard: reports describe Trump berating Zelenskyy, telling him to be “thankful,” and soon after suspending U.S. aid and intel sharing for roughly a week before reversing under pressure amid ceasefire talk that never materialized.
By summer, the administration was floating (and Moscow was amplifying) the prospect of a Trump–Putin summit to “end the war,” minimizing Ukrainian President Zelenskyy’s role. Not only was he excluded from the talks, but the summit is now scheduled for August 15, 2025, in Alaska—a sign that Ukraine itself is being sidelined from the decisions affecting its future. The net effect shifts public perception away from post–WWII alliances toward a world in which Russia is treated as a partner and NATO is viewed with skepticism—precisely the inversion that once existed only in Kremlin talking points.
No, the U.S. hasn’t formally exited NATO. But the rhetoric and posture tell allies something ominous: the map can be redrawn by mood—today’s adversary, tomorrow’s summit location.
Fear as the Enforcer — and the Brown Coats of 2025
In 1984, the Thought Police make disloyalty existentially dangerous. Today’s GOP enforces loyalty through primaries dominated by a white Christian nationalist base—and through state power.
On the electoral side, MAGA’s grip means any Republican who breaks ranks risks being replaced from the right. Moderates either stay silent, bend the knee, or are gone.
On the enforcement side, Trump’s ICE has adopted aggressive street-level operations reminiscent of authoritarian “brown coat” enforcers—detaining people without warning, transferring them to remote high-security facilities, or even deporting them to places like El Salvador’s notorious CECOT “mega-prison.” The tactic isn’t just about immigration; it sends a broader message: the state can make you disappear.
Fear works. It silences dissenters inside the party and chills opposition outside it.
Punishing the Past — and Those Who Crossed the Leader
In 1984, disloyalty isn’t just a private offense—it’s a criminal one. Once branded an enemy of the Party, you can expect the regime to dig into your history looking for new ways to destroy you. In 2025 America, the GOP's Justice Department is echoing that pattern.
The current Attorney General, Pam Bondi, has launched a grand jury investigation into Obama-era intelligence and law enforcement officials—Jim Comey, John Brennan, James Clapper—over accusations they manipulated intelligence about Russian interference. The referral came from DNI Tulsi Gabbard, who claims a “treasonous conspiracy” by these officials despite bipartisan reports from the Mueller and Senate Intelligence probes finding no evidence of collusion.
Perhaps most telling: Senator Marco Rubio—who served as acting chair and later vice chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee—co-anchored the final bipartisan report that confirmed Russian meddling in 2016. He concluded, “no probe into this matter has been more exhaustive” and affirmed there was no evidence of collusion. And yet here we are, years later, reopening that chapter through a “strike force” targeting political enemies.
This isn’t justice—it’s retribution. In Orwell’s world, the Ministry of Love’s torture chambers are real. In MAGA-world, re-opening probes on long-settled investigations sends a similar message: don’t cross the Leader—or risk being criminally scrutinized retroactively.
Why This Isn’t “Just Politics”
Some will shrug this off as politics being rough. But Orwell’s warning wasn’t about normal political competition—it was about systems that sever reality from public life.
When a national museum can omit two impeachments; when an ex-FBI agent recorded urging violence against police can be pardoned and placed in the DOJ; when an Oval Office meeting can downgrade an ally and float partnership with an adversary; when immigration agents operate like an internal security force; when contradictions are demanded as proof of loyalty—that’s not normal churn. That’s a society being trained to live without a stable truth.
The Exit Ramp
Authoritarian movements don’t grow solely from force—they grow from apathy, confusion, and low participation where it counts.
That’s why I wrote Your Primary Power. It explains how the GOP became vulnerable to hard-right capture—and how ordinary voters can use primary elections to take back candidate pipelines extremists now control. It’s not about changing your core beliefs; it’s about showing up strategically in the contests that decide who makes it onto the November ballot.
The spiral toward Orwellian politics isn’t inevitable. But stopping it will take more than outrage and better tweets. It will take turnout where MAGA counts on your absence most—in the primaries.
📖 Your Primary Power: How Extremism Captured American Politics—and How Strategic Voting Can Win It Back
👉 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FCY1L2Y1
Notes & Sources
Smithsonian impeachment exhibit removal and later restoration: NPR, The Washington Post, Smithsonian statements.
Ghislaine Maxwell narrative reframing concerns: BBC, The Guardian, Associated Press.
FBI Epstein file redactions: NBC News, Reuters, Associated Press, The Intercept.
Jared L. Wise video (“kill ’em”), indictment, pardon, DOJ role: The Daily Beast, AP News, The Independent.
Ed Martin appointment, Jan. 6 involvement, prosecutorial purges: Democracy Docket, The Guardian.
Trump on slowing COVID testing (“I don’t kid”): CNN, ABC News, Reuters.
Feb. 28, 2025 Trump–Zelenskyy Oval Office meeting, aid pause, NATO context: Politico, The New York Times, Reuters.
Trump–Putin summit talk and U.S. alignment rhetoric: Bloomberg, Financial Times.
ICE street detentions, CECOT transfers: Associated Press, Human Rights Watch, El Faro.
Epstein outrage narrative shift: USA Today, NBC News.
Firing of BLS Commissioner Erika L. McEntarfer and fallout: Associated Press, Reuters, Financial Times, MarketWatch, PBS NewsHour, Politico, The Guardian, Government Executive, COPAFS statement, congressional press releases.