MAGAReport 9/28/24 - violence worries and Nazis

The alarming, violent anti-immigrant rhetoric escalates alongside Nazi tropes

CW: some very offensive Nazi-related language

In case you missed it, Mike Lindel (the MAGA MyPillow guy) went full Nazi.

I know 1488 has made its way out of white nationalist and extremist scholar circles into the general consciousness, but in case you are lucky enough to be unfamiliar, this is a Nazi trope. When you see 88 by itself, it refers to “Heil Hitler” because “H” is the 8th letter of the alphabet. The 14 is a reference to the Fourteen Words slogan, popular in white supremacist circles: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

I spend so much time in these online spaces, and they are so extreme, that nothing should shock me anymore. And yet, nearly every week, they do something even more wild that makes me gasp. A business - even one relegated to MAGA circles like MyPillow has become - being so obviously, publicly Nazi was one of those things.

But it gets worse because this was discussed on the pro-MAGA forums I monitor. Granted, extremism is part of this community, but the way they “joke” about this is chilling. The post that shared the image above said, essentially, “wow those crazy liberals think they see Naziism in everything!” Here are the comments, and let me warn you again that they are extremely offensive.

• The final solution to a good night's sleep.

• He needs to make a "My Shower Head", and give it 11 holes. If you know, you know.

  • Help me out here

    • Gas showers in the camps...

    • People only have 10 fingers to plug the holes when the gas arrives.

• He'll have to manufacture wooden doors next.

• When I started MyPillow it was a problem/final solution company...

• My Deer Stand

  

It does not surprise me that this community minimizes and mocks the Holocaust. But for a group that pretends to be open, non-racist, fair-minded citizens, comments like those above directly contradict their identity construction in a more explicit way that we’re used to seeing.

And, of course, it’s worth mentioning that Trump himself uses Nazi language. Here’s a quote from Trump, and you should especially not the use of the word “vermin”:

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country, that lie and steal and cheat on elections.”

And here’s one from Hitler:

“Should I not also have the right to eliminate millions of an inferior race that multiplies like vermin?”

I wrote a few days ago about the escalating violent language directed at immigrants, and that seems to be growing worse as well. Here is a sample of a discussion I saw yesterday:

At this point, the signs that there will be one-off incidents of anti-immigrant violence before the election are so strong that I would be shocked if we don’t see any. The anger within the MAGA community and Trump’s scapegoating of immigrants is only likely to increase as the election gets clearer and his path to victory remains uncertain. Overall, the extremism is increasing.

Trump is returning to rally in Butler, PA next weekend, the site of his July assassination attempt. The shooting has gained a mythical status among hard-core Trump supporters. I’d say solidly a quarter of all merch I see people wearing at rallies is related to it. I will be there doing interviews, and I will be interested to see if the tone is more aggressive than at other events.

In the meantime, I’m still not seeing any organized plans for violence or demonstration in the community.