News

Did Donald Trump Supporters Do A Nazi Salute?

by April Siese

The most contentious Super Saturday event unsurprisingly seems to be a rally for GOP frontrunner Donald Trump at the University of Central Florida. The rally was similar to a majority of the Donald's most recent events in that it included protests, attendees being booted, and a generally boisterous atmosphere from both supporters and detractors. The real estate magnate chose to make one major change in his generally formulaic speech, however. He requested that audience members take a pledge but many are saying the gimmick went too far. Did Donald Trump supporters do a Nazi salute?

Photos and video footage that have emerged from the event certainly paint a telling picture of what the Donald wanted from his fans. In between remarks in which he continued to advocate for reimplementing torture techniques, Trump preempted his pledge by asking who in attendance was in favor of him. He then requested that attendees raise their right hands to the sky. In terms of sheer technique, the pose was less a Nazi salute and more akin to an elementary school student waiting to be called on by their teacher. The thousands of people at the CFE Arena appeared to see nothing wrong with how their hands were positioned, doing their best to recite the Donald's words and cheering following the pledge.

Social media hasn't let the Donald off that easily, however. Many have compared the pledge to that of a Nazi salute while also criticizing the very content of his message. The real estate magnate had his crowd tripping over their words as he hastily led a call and response oath at the Florida rally. He also erroneously stated that the Florida GOP Primary was on March 12th when the event is scheduled to be held on the 15th.

The rally had a tinge of the bizarre even before it got started. Bear in mind that the Orlando event was the same one in which a man dressed up as the embodiment of Trump's immigration proposal. Another man dressed up as KFC spokesman Col. Sanders. Other costumed attendees included a man wearing a baseball cap sporting a plush phallus, who was escorted out of the rally by venue security.

Taking away from the more inane distractions and even divorcing the pledge from its potential Nazi overtones, the fact stands that Trump appeared to be an uninformed candidate who was all talk and little substance. Not knowing basic information regarding primary schedules is simply embarrassing, if not troubling on its own.