How subtle changes in language helped erode US democracy — and mirrored the Nazi era

Victor Klemperer, a literary scholar, saw the Nazi era begin in the subtlest of ways, through a shift in language. Trained to examine linguistic nuances, he noticed the Germans around him started to talk differently. They used new words, slogans and expressions that didn't always seem political. But in retrospect, he realized that these new speech patterns had begun undermining democracy long before Hitler rose to power.