Politics

Trump supporters now have a ‘salute’ and it’s drawing Nazi comparisons

Trump supporters now have a ‘salute’ and it’s drawing Nazi comparisons

Related video: Trump campaign video appears to use QAnon theme song

Donald Trump

In yet another troubling development concerning former US president Donald Trump and his supporters, backers of the controversial Republican now appear to have their own “salute” – and it’s as bad as it sounds.

Footage from Mr Trump’s latest ‘Save America’ rally, which took place in Ohio on Saturday, shows those in the crowd raising their right arms upward with their index finger raised.

Of course, the last time a group of people popularised a political salute involving raising your right arm it was Actual Nazis, so the optics of multiple Americans making a gesture not too dissimilar to ‘Sieg Heil’ has rightly left many people on Twitter horrified.

Radio host Dean Obeidallah shared the clip online and added: “This is ACTUAL footage from his rally where Trump played music underneath what sounds like a prayer to the devil and the crowd responds with a one-armed salute to Trump.

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“This is FASCISM on US soil.”

Others have also expressed alarm at the gesture:

The salute is being reported as a potential reference to the baseless QAnon conspiracy theory, which concerns the unfounded idea that Trump is at war with Satan-worshipping paedophiles in America’s elite. It was declared a domestic terrorism threat by the FBI in 2019.

Away from the potential QAnon salute, some have suggested a far better one-finger alternative for the ex-Potus:

In addition to the salute, The New York Times claims the Trump rally played music similar to the theme song of the far-right conspiracist group.

That’s the instrumental track “Wwg1wga’, which stands for ‘where we go one, we go all’.

The reports have further fuelled the idea that Mr Trump is actively embracing the QAnon conspiracy theory after he re-posted an image of himself wearing a Q pin to his own Truth Social platform on Tuesday, complete with the slogan “the storm is coming”.

The catchphrase refers to the belief that Mr Trump will regain power and all of his opponents will be tried – and potentially executed – on live television.

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