History Series / ThePlotAgainstAmerica

* GreedyJew: Deconstructed by Abe Steinheim, the "macher" who briefly employs Alvin. He lectures a simple barber that people to make lots of money, and then use that money to make even more money. However, Abe believes that money is the only means that Jews have of ensuring their survival in a gentile's world.

* AnAesop: Every American is an American.

The film focuses on the extended Levin family, a middle-class Jewish family from New Jersey who struggle against antisemitism and xenophobia in the wake of Charles Lindbergh's successful 1940 presidential campaign on an isolationist, "America first" platform.

* HistoricalVillainDowngrade: The show does an inverse on Charles Lindbergh as it does to Winchell. Lindbergh goes from a heroic aviator with outspoken isolationist views to an outright Nazi collaborator who also supports "Americanization" efforts that effectively treat Jewish Americans like aliens. He's eventually [[spoiler:assassinated in an effort to put America back on track]]. In real life, Lindbergh went on to pledge his full support to the American war effort and served substantially in the Pacific theater. He was also horrified by the revelation of Nazi extermination camps.

* TemptingFate: Rabbi Bengelsdorf states confidently that his Americanization plan for Jews will be entirely voluntary. This is still America, after all. The plan almost immediately turns involuntary, as businesses are cajoled into relocating their Jewish employees, forcing them to either lose their job or move to a distant community with no ultimate benefit.

* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Once Lindbergh is elected president, many Jews openly discuss fleeing to Canada. The Levines actually look into it, but are told that they don't have the right credentials or connections to become citizens. At the height of antisemitic fervor, Shepsie packs up all his belongings and drives through the night to Winnipeg, where he has a brother.

** Evelyn and Rabbi Bengelsdorf by supporting American policies that ultimately hurt American Jews. In their rise to power, they get full of themselves and start abusing their authority over others. In the end, however, they ''are'' doing what they think is best. It's hard not to feel sorry for them when [[spoiler:their government allies turn on them and twist their work into weapons against Jews]].

** Evelyn and Rabbi Bengelsdorf by supporting American policies that ultimately hurt American Jews. In their rise to power, they get full of themselves and start abusing their authority over others. In the end, however, they ''are'' doing what they think is best.
** Charles Lindbergh wants peace in America, which is an understandable goal. He also seems to be making an honest, if misguided, attempt to bring Jews more fully into mainstream American society. But his policies and antisemitic underlings ultimately start turning America into a proto-Nazi Germany.

** Henry Ford's racist insult to Bengelsdorf and Evelyn reveals that, however much Lindbergh himself decries prejudice, his administration is filled with antisemites who see Bengelsdorf simply as a useful idiot.

* CallingTheOldManOut: A lot of the conflict in the show is between Sandy and his father Howard. Sandy admires Lindbergh and dismisses his father's concerns over being Jewish in the 1940s. He frequently accuses his parents of being overprotective and paranoid, insisting that the world outside of their Jewish neighborhood is perfectly safe. He's proven wrong by the end of the series, as the government increasingly abuses American Jews while domestic antisemitism ignites into riots.

** When Howard travels to Kentucky to meet his son, he stops at a gas station and switches the radio station to Walter Winchell. The attendant, having realized that Howard is a big-city Jew, drops Howard's change onto the sandwich he'd just purchased and sneers at him. This confirms Howard's fears that FlyoverCountry is not a safe place for his family.

** In the end, Howard tunes his radio to hear the results of the election, but the show ends just before the announcer reveals what's happening.

* TheUnReveal: Evelyn doesn't know what her Yiddish curse, "gay kocken offen yom" means. Rabbi Bengelsdorf whispers the translation into her ear, which makes her smile, but the audience doesn't hear it.

** It's quite easy to see the parallels between the trials of Jewish immigrants to be recognized as "real Americans" and the trials of more recent immigrant groups such as Mexican-Americans. Characters also note Lindbergh's "America First" foreign policy, which is very similar to the "Make America Great Again" policies of the Trump administration during the show's run.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The first episode has Alvin tear his buddy Shushy away from abusing a slot machine. Alvin will eventually get involved in fixing slot machines and get involved with their owner's daughter.

* KosherNostra: Jewish gangs are still pretty powerful in the 1940s, led by Waxy Gordon.

* YiddishAsASecondLanguage: Since this is the 1940s, most Jewish characters speak a smattering of Yiddish. Evelyn curses at Henry Ford in Yiddish, but doesn't know what it means.

* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: In the final episode, an American pogrom against Jewish neighborhoods and businesses very clearly recalls [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristallnacht Krystalnacht]]. One shot of a pile of shoes outside of a looted store is a reference to famous images of the shoe piles left over at Nazi extermination camps.

* FlyoverCountry: New Jersey Jews have a very low opinion of life in the Midwest, seeing the region as a Jew-free region filled with antisemites and KKK. While not everyone in the Midwest is antisemitic, there ''are'' certainly a lot more KKK than in New Jersey.

* WhamShot: After Alvin deploys in the Canadian military, episode 2 ends with [[spoiler:a shot of Alvin lying in a hospital bed. The camera pans across to reveal that he right foot has been amputated]].

* EvilMinister: Rabbi Bengelsdorf is compared to Rasputin by the media for his supposed hold over the first lady. It's a smear.

** Evelyn and Rabbi Bengelsdorf think they know what is best for America and the Levines by supporting policies that lead the way to antisemitism, but they're doing what they think is best.
** Charles Lindbergh wants peace in America, which is an understandable goal. He also seems to be making an honest, if misguided, attempt to bring Jews more fully into mainstream American society. But his policies and antisemitic underlings ultimately make America into a proto-Nazi Germany.

* NiceGuy: In spite of being a series mostly centered on antisemitism, there are a number of notable gentiles who behave with perfect respect to the Jewish characters. The farmer family from Kentucky welcomes Sandy to their home and helps Seldon. The tour guide in Washington D.C. behaves with perfect respect toward the Levines, tells them they are within their rights to be angry at the antisemitic hotel staff, and even stands up for Herman against a bully. The Levines' new Italian neighbor stays with the family while Herman is away to protect them against rioters and gives Herman a gun to protect himself.

* {{Foreshadowing}}: The first episode has Alvin tear his buddy Shushy away from abusing a slot machine. Alvin will eventually get involved in fixing slot machines and get involved with their owner's daughter.

* ShiksaGoddess: Alvin has a dalliance with a gentile British girl while training in the Canadian military.
* VillainousBreakdown: After [[spoiler:Lindbergh disappears and the Wheeler administration turns against him]], Rabbi Bengelsdorf becomes increasingly rattled and starts spouting conspiracy theories to Jewish community leaders who just look sad for his current state.

* BillingDisplacement: Winona Ryder gets top billing in spite of being less of a presence in the series compared to Morgan Spector and Zoe Kazan.

''The Plot Against America'' is an HBO AlternateHistory miniseries created by Dan Simon and Ed Burns of ''Series/TheWire'' and ''Series/GenerationKill''.