President Donald Trump’s official re-election campaign is using a red triangle to attack “far-left groups,” presumably including Democrats, in Facebook ads and at least one Facebook post.
The inverted red triangle, as The Washington Post reports, “was first used in the 1930s to identify Communists, and was applied as well to Social Democrats, liberals, Freemasons and other members of opposition parties.” The Nazis also used the image “to designate political prisoners in concentration camps.”
The language in a Facebook post from the Trump campaign’s official and verified Facebook page is also incendiary.
“Dangerous MOBS of far-left groups are running through our streets and causing absolute mayhem. They are DESTROYING our cities and rioting – it’s absolute madness,” the post, dated Wednesday, June 18, reads (screenshot below.)
“It’s important that EVERY American comes together at a time like this to send a united message that we will not stand for their radical actions any longer. We’re calling on YOU to make a public statement and add your name to stand with President Trump against ANTIFA.”
“Please add your name IMMEDIATELY to stand with your President and his decision to declare ANTIFA a Terrorist Organization,” it urges.
Above the post in the Facebook page’s header image reads: “ONE NATION.”
The post is not viewable in the page’s main feed. NCRM was able to find it by googling the text of the post. The link is here for those who wish to view it. Facebook has yet to delete it.
A Trump campaign spokesperson told The Washington Post the red triangle is an Antifa symbol, but at least one expert disagrees.
Jacob S. Eder, a historian of modern Germany at the Barenboim–Said Akademie in Berlin, calls it “a highly problematic use of a symbol that the Nazis used to identify their political enemies.” He said unlike some Nazi concentration camp symbols, like the pink triangle, the red triangle has not been reclaimed.
“I find it shocking,” American scholar of the Holocaust Deborah E. Lipstadt said.
The Post notes the ads are being run by Trump’s Facebook account and Vice President Pence’s Facebook account. As of Thursday morning combined they have been seen nearly 1.5 million times.
A group of “tens of thousands of progressive Jews all across the country,” Bend the Arc, posted images warning about the Trump posts and ads.
UPDATE:
Calling the red triangle “an infamous Nazi symbol,” Media Matters notes the Trump campaign ran 88 of these ads on Facebook. Social media users were quick to note that 88 is a Nazi symbol for Hitler, and that the first sentence of the post has 14 words. The ADL has noted that the “14 words” “is a reference to the most popular white supremacist slogan in the world.”