Trump’s security was walking through the crowd and urging people to give up when they gave the QAnon sign at his rally in North Carolina.
Video:
When the crowd raises their fingers again at the Trump rally tonight to give the QAnon sign, security walks through them and poses. pic.twitter.com/FQVJVrJ1FX
— Ron Filipkowski 🇺🇦 (@RonFilipkowski) September 24, 2022
The message seems to be that Trump and his supporters are authoritarian, but they don’t want to look like authoritarians on TV.
Trump is not an official candidate, and his PAC engages security, so the message that QAnon’s move had to stop came from him or someone in his employ.
Donald Trump is under criminal investigation for everything from crimes related to his attempted coup to mishandling government records, so it’s not good for him that his supporters look like a terrorist cell national pledge of loyalty with a fascist salute.
The ousted former president has spent his political career reporting to the violent far right. Signals lose their effectiveness if they are so obvious that everyone can see and hear what they are trying to do.
Trump has been pandering to QAnon on his social media platform as his legal troubles have grown exponentially. His staged Q event in Ohio was the escalation of extremism, but now that he’s faced poor visuals and backlash from audiences, he’s trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube by having security measures against the QAnon gesture.
It’s too late. Trump has shown what he and his supporters are, and there is no turning back.
Mr. Easley is the editor. He is also a member of the White House press pool and a congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason holds a bachelor’s degree in political science. His graduate studies focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and the American Political Science Association