As soon as once more, a presidential management headed by way of Donald Trump is within the highlight over allegations of hidden fascist sympathies. This time, it’s induced by way of what one observer referred to as a “stiff-armed salute” that presidential supporter and adviser Elon Musk did two times right through inauguration festivities.
Critics have mentioned this is a transparent Nazi salute, whilst others have claimed it was once simply a clumsy movement. Possibly it was once simply the sector’s worst dab.
Musk grew to become the debate over his gesture into one thing like a funny story about Nazis. On X, he posted, “Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations!” and “Bet you did nazi that coming.”
This isn’t the primary time that Trump or any person with regards to him has been accused of sending fascist messages, although they denied doing so. Nor even is it the primary time a well known determine endorsing Donald Trump has been accused of giving a Nazi salute.
As a pupil of far-right extremism, I steadily evaluate cases of coded fascist symbols and different right-wing messages being despatched by way of public figures and their supporters, some extra evident than others.
In simple sight
Like Musk, TV commentator Laura Ingraham ended a fiery speech endorsing then-candidate Trump in 2016 with a rigidly outstretched arm together with her palm down – within the actual means German Nazis within the Nineteen Thirties and Nineteen Forties and rank-and-file fashionable neo-Nazis carry out the “Sieg Heil,” or Nazi salute. Ingraham brushed aside the grievance and in 2025 defended Musk’s motion.
Laura Ingraham speaks and gestures at a Trump rally in 2016.
In 2021, the Conservative Political Motion Convention arrange its heart level within the form of an odal rune. This is an historical pagan image coopted by way of Germany’s Nazi regime and worn prominently right through Global Battle II at the uniforms of the brutal Waffen SS gadgets. Social media erupted in outrage over the likeness, and columnists spilled a lot ink. Tournament organizers rejected the grievance, calling it “outrageous and slanderous.”
Trump himself has been reluctant to criticize white supremacists. In August 2017, he spoke back to a reporter’s observation that neo-Nazis had “started” the violence right through and after a rally they held in Charlottesville, Virginia, by way of pronouncing “(t)hey didn’t put themselves down as neo-Nazis. And you had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people on both sides.”
All the way through the September 2020 presidential debate, Trump spoke back to a request from moderator Chris Wallace to sentence right-wing paramilitary teams by way of as an alternative referencing one among them, pronouncing, “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
Only a few months later, a number of Proud Boys individuals would lend a hand spearhead the violent revolt in opposition to the non violent switch of energy on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. A few of them have been convicted of federal crimes for his or her efforts, regardless that upon retaking place of job in 2025, Trump pardoned them or commuted their sentences.
Extra brazenly, in November 2022 Trump invited Kanye West to dinner at Mar-a-Lago, in spite of West’s having posted antisemitic remarks lately on social media. Additionally on the dinner was once well known antisemite and white supremacist Nick Fuentes, whom Trump denied figuring out anything else about forward of time, pronouncing he arrived “unexpectedly” with West.
The evening ahead of the ‘Unite the Right’ rally in Charlottesville, Va., in August 2017, other folks wearing torches and chanting fascist slogans marched during the College of Virginia campus.
Coded messages
In different extra summary and lesser-known incidents, Trump would possibly make his sympathies identified with out making direct statements himself. And I’ve in my opinion noticed white supremacists commentary upon – and take encouragement from – those implied messages on Telegram channels devoted to antisemitism and hate.
In February 2018, right through Trump’s first time period as president, the Division of Place of origin Safety issued a 14-word press free up titled “We Must Secure The Border And Build The Wall To Make America Safe Again.” I and different investigators of far-right extremism attributed this word’s use to a transparent canine whistle of the typical white supremacist pronouncing referred to as “the 14 words” – “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.”
In June 2020, Fb got rid of Trump marketing campaign advertisements for iconography invoking Nazi focus camp symbols that “violat(ed) our policy against organized hate.” A marketing campaign reputable disputed the affiliation, pronouncing different teams, together with Fb and anti-fascist teams, used the similar image.
In September 2024, pro-Trump CEO Mike Lindell’s corporate MyPillow ran a sale discounting a pillow from $49.98 to $14.88. Critics temporarily identified that this aligned with the 14-word white supremacist slogan and the numerical reference “88” that white supremacists use to imply “Heil Hitler,” as a result of H is the 8th letter of the alphabet. Lindell denied any connection between the associated fee and right-wing messaging.
An inventory of the 14 other folks whose Jan. 6-related sentences President Donald Trump commuted.
Screenshot of WhiteHouse.gov
And at the very day he was once inaugurated for his 2d time period, Trump pardoned greater than 1,500 other folks, together with a minimum of two alleged individuals of the Proud Boys, for his or her movements on Jan. 6, 2021. And he commuted the sentences of 14 other folks, together with 4 individuals of the Proud Boys.
This unusual transfer was once applauded by way of Proud Boys chief Enrique Tarrio, who was once amongst the ones pardoned. Others who won presidential clemency mentioned they have been thankful to Trump and inspired by way of his motion.
Signaling fascism
Sending those varieties of fascist and white supremacist messages permit Trump and his supporters to courtroom right-wing extremist supporters whilst claiming innocence within the face of public outrage.
In the event that they deny the allegations of veiled fascism or white supremacy, Trump and his backers can declare their warring parties are infected in opposition to them and undertaking ideological witch hunts.
Members of the family and pals of other folks imprisoned for his or her movements on Jan. 6, 2021, wait out of doors the Washington, D.C., prison for his or her free up on Jan. 22, 2025.
Celal Gunes/Anadolu by the use of Getty Pictures
However failure to at once deny allegations of fascism is a commonplace technique utilized by far-right and radical conservative actions in search of to difficult to understand deeper hyperlinks to extremist teams to steer clear of public backlash.
The loss of specific admission can finally end up leaving those movements and emblems open to interpretation. Trump’s MAGA motion individuals, led by way of his interior circle of advisers and lieutenants, have persistently sought to make use of outrage and anger to generate further momentum and a spotlight for his or her schedule.
However because the outdated pronouncing is going, “where there’s smoke there’s fire” – and on this case the smoke is most likely nearer to a book-burning bonfire in Berlin than a tiki torch carried in Charlottesville.
