The Conversation (0)
Liam O'Dell
Sep 20, 2022
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:
\u201cAt Trump rally last night they introduced a new one arm salute to Trump. 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 one armed salute to Trump. This is FASCISM on US soil.\u201d— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@(((DeanObeidallah)))) 1663503085
\u201cDon\u2019t be naive. They know what they\u2019re doing.\u201d— The Lincoln Project (@The Lincoln Project) 1663552040
\u201cLast night MAGAts gave Trump a one-fingered Nazi-like QAnon salute\n\nToday MAGAts here in Pennsylvania gave Doug Mastriano a full-on Nazi salute\n\nAnd they\u2019re mad at Biden for calling them semi-fascists?!\n\nThere is NOTHING semi about this horrifying display of hate and bigotry\u201d— Lindy Li (@Lindy Li) 1663556357
\u201cThis is really sickening, horrifying and disturbing to see many morons salute Trump with Heil Trump. This is creepy .\u201d— Dennis (@Dennis) 1663592803
\u201cIf you missed it last night, you should know that the fascists adopted a straight-arm salute reminiscent of the nazi salute at a Trump rally last night.\u201d— Walter Shaub (@Walter Shaub) 1663506914
\u201cThis is a Nazi salute!\nNo.\nNo? What are they saluting?\nQAnon.\nSo they believe a cabal of Jews, liberals, and Hollywood stars are Satanic, cannibalistic sexual abusers of children, and they\u2019re operating a global child sex trafficking ring and conspiring against Trump?!\nYep.\nSigh.\u201d— Ken Olin (@Ken Olin) 1663550077
\u201cThis is tonight. This is Germany 1933\n\n Can we stop fucking around?\u201d— Titus (@Titus) 1663482541
\u201cImagine thinking you\u2019re a patriotic American when you do a heil Trump Nazi salute to a draft dodging, insurrection inciting, coup plotting, Veteran shaming, fascist authoritarian traitor at one of his pathetic low-energy low-attendance low IQ-Anon propagandapalooza cult rallies.\u201d— The USA Singers (@The USA Singers) 1663591810
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:
\u201ci've got a one-finger salute for trump too \ud83d\udd95\u201d— God (@God) 1663617670
\u201cI'm okay with this one finger salute for Trump! #QAnonCult #Cult45 #Trump #GOP\u201d— Jeff Jeebs (@Jeff Jeebs) 1663620817
\u201cI\u2019ve got a one finger salute for Trump.\u201d— MM \uea00 (@MM \uea00) 1663535058
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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