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On my SiriusXM show, Roy from Oklahoma —a Trump supporter —called in while I was discussing Donald Trump’s weekend rally in Youngstown, Ohio, and the horrifying, Hitlerian salute that his supporter gave him, raising their arms out front and upward, with one finger pointing.
All over TV and social media people made references to “Heil Trump!” as his supporters were showing they were deeply loyal to him in a frightening way.
The music playing while Trump was speaking was a QAnon anthem, as Trump, desperate for support, has gone full QAnon. The one-finger salute was a show of loyalty by those immersed QAnon, who believe a hideous, dangerous conspiracy in which Trump is a messianic figure who is going to save them from the demonic forces of pedophiles and perverts in the Democratic party.
Whatever you want to call it, you can’t deny it reflects flat out fascism and authoritarianism — people following the dictator blindly — and the salute just made the Nazi comparison all the more apt.
Roy professed shock at my pointing all of this out, asking if my comments are “actually for real.” I couldn’t quite understand what he meant, so I pressed him further.
He then denied the salute was anything like a Nazi salute and tried to compare the Trump rally attendees to people “in church, holding their hands up.” That of course only proved the point further: they see Trump as some God-like figure.
Roy then told me the story of a salesman he met who told him the secret to being successful: “People are stupid; treat ‘em that way.” His point, I guess, was to say that I was like a salesman. But, as I pointed out to him, he was perfectly, brilliantly describing Trump’s strategy: People are stupid; treat them that way.
Roy then got completely stumped when he tried to tell me Trump never misled anyone on COVID — why he picked COVID, I don’t know — and I pointed out the facts, the lies, the “inject with bleach” suggestions and the numbers of deaths due to COVID because of Trump. Roy couldn’t refute the facts at all, just kind of meandering, and I just had to tell him the obvious truth, that he was just like the people the salesman told him about: “Stupid.”
Listen in and let me know your thoughts!
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