Trump Team Unveils Disturbingly Racist Signs at Campaign Rally
Donald Trump’s campaign handed out signs with a slogan used by white supremacists at his Saginaw, Michigan, rally Thursday.
The signs read “Reclaim America,” a phrase the white nationalist group Patriot Front uses regularly. The group, which splintered from the neo-Nazi Vanguard America, has long used the slogan in an effort to make white supremacist ideology palatable to a wider audience. The slogan has been used in Patriot Front banners in marches and flyers across the country. On Thursday, the preprinted signs with the same slogan were handed out before Trump spoke.
While they were being distributed, the chair of the Michigan Republican Party, former Representative Pete Hoekstra, told Trump’s fans that they were appreciated.
“You’ve got to put on a great show today, and the president will recognize your efforts,” said Hoekstra, who served as U.S. ambassador to the Netherlands during Trump’s presidency.
Who was behind the decision to use the slogan is unknown, although one wonders if they have ties to Patriot Front. At a Patriot Front rally in Nashville in July, the racist group’s members chanted “Sieg Heil” and “Deportation saves the nation,” while proudly displaying the “Reclaim America” slogan on a large banner. Trump supporters would likely agree with the latter chant at least, considering the former president’s plan for mass deportations.
Trump has flirted with white nationalism in the past, including during his 2024 campaign. He has complained about “anti-white racism,” and some of Trump’s confidants plan to use civil rights laws to combat the made-up problem if he returns to the White House. Trump infamously told the fascist Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” at a 2020 presidential debate.
Over the summer, though, Trump drew the ire of prominent neo-Nazi Robert Spencer, who thought some of the racist attacks on Kamala Harris went too far. Perhaps this is a “sign” that Trump still has white nationalist support and thinks it can help him win in November.