US President Donald Trump’s re-election team has ridiculed the most recent attempt to tie the commander in chief to Nazism after critics compared a campaign T-shirt graphic to a logo commonly used in the Third Reich.
Responding to the allegation that the T-shirt ripped off the emblem of the Nazi Party – spread online by the president’s detractors on Wednesday – Trump’s campaign team dug up photos showing prominent Democratic figures donning similar symbols, asking whether they also had something to hide.
Nancy Pelosi, secret Nazi? https://t.co/sGywd4aff1pic.twitter.com/T9vu7vd01L
Madeleine Albright, secret Nazi? pic.twitter.com/9fWji9xXBV
“This is moronic. In Democrats’ America, Mount Rushmore glorifies white supremacy and the bald eagle with an American flag is a Nazi symbol,” the campaign said in a statement addressing the controversy, adding that Democrats “have lost their minds.”
A number of netizens also shot back that eagle symbolism is found in countless American seals and logos dating back centuries. The bird was first chosen for the US national emblem in 1782 following the War for Independence – slightly predating the Nazis’ rise to power over 150 years later. Even self-avowed opponents of the president noted that the eagle theme is not “uncommon,” pointing to the seal of the US Marine Corps and other military symbols.
Believe me, I sympathize with the sentiment, but this theme is not uncommon. I do think they’re fascists but I don’t need that t-shirt to conclude that. pic.twitter.com/r4Bk0H0Eka
Guys … I’ve been calling Trump and his supporters Nazis for years … but the eagle on the shirt looks more like it was designed from U.S. military insignias. These are Army colonel and Navy captain … pic.twitter.com/0ePsGZm3ZC
Here is a picture of Trump’s new campaign logo. Here are pictures of the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force emblems. The concept of an eagle looking to the side and spreading its wings is not exclusively Nazi. pic.twitter.com/51lqd1I38v
Critics, including a Democratic congressional candidate for Virginia’s 1st District, were not convinced, however, arguing that the eagle’s head always faces rightward in American iconography, while the Nazis – as well as the Trump campaign – had the bird facing to the left (so long as one doesn’t count older versions of the US presidential seal or the Nazi ‘Reichsadler,’ that is).
My brother who was in the US Marines remembered to show me that the USMC Eagle always faces to the Right of the person and the Nazi eagle always faces to the left.Trump’s new logo follows the Nazi eagle & faces to the left (and it has the KKK America First slogan). https://t.co/DSfy8KcSOEpic.twitter.com/GvAZrtVfA7
One is the Seal of the USA, one is the Trump Shirt, one is the NAZI seal. Which ones does the Trump shirt look like? ? pic.twitter.com/5InloeK7cF
The incident is not the first time the Trump Team has been accused of reviving Nazi imagery. Most recently, the campaign came under fire after running a social media ad featuring a red triangle, which it said was the logo of Antifa – a loosely organized faction of left-wing street protesters. Opponents, however, insisted the symbol was taken directly from the Third Reich, as a nearly identical shape was used to mark political prisoners in concentration camps.
Like this story? Share it with a friend!
