This picture from Reuters really captures the maga cult.

[kpete]

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=0prLMiR7Pby0O4Mzd_qMlw
https://digbysblog.net/2022/09/17/its-literally-becoming-a-religion/

Link to tweet

?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1571310011548323842%7Ctwgr%5E3cd63b1dcb5b2c3c164e23bb6f24bb691823f2b1%7Ctwcon%5Es2_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fdigbysblog.net%2F2022%2F09%2F17%2Fits-literally-becoming-a-religion%2F

[JohnSJ]

1. The republican party today.

[mitch96]

42. Gimmie a Sig Heil!!..amen..nt

[Alexander Of Assyria]

2. Appears the MAGAS in the bleachers didn't get the salute memo! All theatre, Nazi script.

[ewagner]

6. re: Nazi Script..

Who is writing this crap for him...????

I doubt he is bright enough to do this on his own.

Are we witnessing the "fine hand" of Stephen Miller?

[Pepsidog]

70. Ask his people and the believe it all. They think he contained N.Korea when in fact he did what no

other president, either Republican or Democrat would do, grant Un international recognition by meeting with an American president and slobbering over the little dictator. Just really ignorant, uninformed people.

[PatSeg]

21. I wonder what is that one finger salute suppose to mean?

I don't recall seeing that before.

I saw some clips of the audience earlier and most of them look very bored and a few appear rather uncomfortable, like they don't want to be there.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

23. Think Miller, aka Goebbels reincarnated, is trying out various Nazi salute themes.

This one sucks…back to the fascist drawing board!

[PatSeg]

25. Yeah, that's really bad even for a Trump rally

Meanwhile, there's hardly any energy or enthusiasm, as if people were paid to attend. Well, except for the one "Blacks for Trump" guy who somehow shows up at every rally. Apparently he doesn't have job and enough disposable income to travel around the country for years.

[anarch]

69. they might as well go back to the original

and just start chanting "Heil Drumpf" or whatever and referring to him as "Führer", and why not just go ahead and officially start using the swastika in their iconography since everyone knows they're Nazis anyway...the original symbols and style are fascist classics; they should just adopt them since they are basically the same kind of people.

[Docreed2003]

38. Pretty sure it's Qanon nonsense

"Where we go one we go all"

Plus, according to some reports the music playing is a Qanon song as well

[PatSeg]

57. Yeah, that's what I heard

I'll bet they don't even know what it means, they're just going along with the crowd.

[summer_in_TX]

63. "We're number one" perhaps.

Or look to God and what God is doing here.

Could even be a combo in meaning.

[FakeNoose]

39. The front seat saluters were paid to be there

I'm certain of it, even though I have no insider knowledge. This is Chump's standard M.O. - paying people to be his minions for the TV cameras. They were paid to wear those shirts and hats too. Of course the rubes in the stands weren't paid, and they had no reason to do the ridiculous Nazi salute.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

48. Not the hoped for Nuremberg rally, more of a hamburger fest.

[Ray Bruns]

3. I would be happy to mix and serve the kool aid at one of his rallies.

[llmart]

11. +1

You took the words right out of my mouth.

[piddyprints]

16. Me too.

OMG, this shit is scary.

[jimfields33]

24. Putting a finger in the air isn't necessarily scary

We have no idea what it means. Someone needs to ask in the media. It could be trump is number 1. To these creatures he probably is.

[Kingofalldems]

71. Yeah no.

[jimfields33]

72. You seem to know the precise meaning. Please share.

[Kingofalldems]

73. It's a cult nazi type salute.

Pretty easy to figure out.

[Mr. Sparkle]

4. Both party leaders are of German descent

[EYESORE 9001]

10. Care to explain this comment?

So far, it looks like a broad-brush smear of people with German ancestry.

[Mr. Sparkle]

13. Im making a spurious connection between Trump and hitler

nothing to do with ordinary Germans, unless you yourself have a connection with hitler that your taking offense with

[EYESORE 9001]

17. I had no idea what your nebulous comment meant

You used more words contriving an insult against me than you put into that first statement, which I misinterpreted to mean the DNC and RNC.

Would you issue the same broad-brush connection between all Italians and la cosa nostra?’ There were Jewish mobsters too. Care to make an association there?

[ShazzieB]

15. Yeah, wtf was that supposed to mean?

German ancestry is extremely common in the U.S. Well over 49 million Americans have German ancestry. A broad brush indeed!

[EYESORE 9001]

19. The poster finally explained that he meant Trump and Hitler

It’s still a broad-brush smear against German people, however.

[Wednesdays]

55. And Hitler wasn't even German.

He was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria.

[speak easy]

67. On the border of Austria and Bavaria

This side, Braunau am Inn; that side, Germany.

[Demsrule86]

28. I don't know about where they come from ...those at the rally but it reminds me of

fascist rally.

[EYESORE 9001]

30. Me too

It’s not right to imply that German ancestry = fascism, however, and I’m not going to let it pass. I’ll slam fascism wherever I see it, but I’ll be damned if I allow free passage of a comment equating Trump and Hitler based solely on national origin. There’s a rich vein of material without resorting to pointing out that both had German heritage.

[wnylib]

64. Danke.

[3Hotdogs]

5. 1980's New Age music.

[Blue Owl]

43. Gums is probably behind the curtain with his Casio

[Wednesdays]

56. I recognize the music's style

It reminds me of mediocre religious right "Contemporary Christian" background music.

[no_hypocrisy]

7. Tomorrow belongs to meeeeee

https://m.

[BigmanPigman]

62. I love that scene as well as the one at the end

when you see Nazi swastikas on the arms of the men in the cabaret audience through a cut glass effect. Shilling...

[TheRickles]

8. He has a very down-beat, uninspiring, droning voice when he reads from the teleprompter.

He's much more enthusiastic and riled up when speaks extemp, ie from the "heart", ie in full rant mode. Hard to imagine the crowd paying much attention to the bland words in this clip.

[birdographer]

14. We have noticed

this new sing-song whiny sort of drone he uses at rallies now, which is very different from his tone during an interview with one person. Has someone told him that this style will somehow subliminally make his crowd more obedient?

[FakeNoose]

41. I think it's another sign of dementia

He's just playing a role that they rehearsed him to do. (Shades of Ronald Reagan if you ask me.)

Whenever Chump goes off the script it just sounds like "word salad" - nothing he says makes any sense. So the handlers force him to read the teleprompter in order to keep him from sounding like the idiot he really is.

[Tommymac]

52. How can you bear to even listen to the cretin? I vomit big time when I try to.

I refuse to pollute my being with any sound bite emanating from the Killer Clowns murderous anus mouth.



But thanks for listening for those of us who simply cannot.

[bucolic_frolic]

9. "where free speech is no longer allowed" Then why are you able to speak?

[Martin Eden]

44. Orwellian Doublethink

Being a Trump KKKultist requires embracing two or more contradictory beliefs simultaneously.

[2naSalit]

12. "Becoming" my ass...

Already there and lining up for the koolaide.

D&(T^d Jonestown T*^%#.

[DinahMoeHum]

18. I dunno, it looks better in the original German

(a wink and a nod to the late great Molly Ivins)

[rubbersole]

22. We still miss the Yellow Rose of Texas...

She would have tacked abbott's ass to the wall on day one.

[paleotn]

33. One of my all time favorites....

Can you imagine what fun she'd have with Donnie Trump? Oh, my.

[Joinfortmill]

20. Not an independent mind among them.

[dclarston13]

26. It also captures what is wrong with our media

The other views of the rally that were taken from behind the media desk, I think, showed very sparse attendance like maybe 20% of the arena. It looked like High School Basketball game level of attendance. So why the hell does it need to be shown as a big movement. If they just stop covering him he will fade away as will the nutjobs. Don't kid yourself, they will always be nutjobs just like they have been for decades/centuries, they were just not taken seriously.
Heck I dare to say that if other cult leaders got the coverage that Trump does who know what would have happened.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

54. M$greedia will do anything to get an even horse race so they can collect campaign ad money.

[lambchopp59]

29. What a grifter production.

One sentence he pontificated about plenty of cheap gasoline and the next how expensive barrels of oil had become.
As though the overarching agenda there wasn't clearly stupid as ever.
Ugh, that funeral dirge accompaniment... 🙉 Welcome to... the church of the unholy grift.

[paleotn]

31. Playing right into Joe Biden's hands.....

What was that speech Biden gave in front of Independence Hall? Oh, yea.

[Alexander Of Assyria]

36. Yes. Just before mid-terms Dark Brandon will drop the semi part of fascist...they obviously are.

[paleotn]

37. Exactly. "Semi" no longer applies after yesterday.

[Peacetrain]

32. We stopped them in the 40's and we will stop them again

[pwb]

34. Those are the paid bused in actors. Always the same

old soap. They are still a very small group being made large by our politically right wealth class media.

[Erik the UNred]

35. MAGA'S Anthem

[spedtr90]

40. More like Madison Square Garden 1939

The "Pro-American" rally that mixed patriotic symbols with those of the Nazis while anti-fascists protested outside.

7 minutes of history worth watching.

https://anightatthegarden.com/

[Wednesdays]

58. On YouTube

Important to note that the marquee at Madison Square Garden read, "Pro-America Rally."

[littlemissmartypants]

59. gmta...

I posted this early in the morning, too.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100217168784

Also this...

https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=17170573

Group think.
25 Most Famous Groupthink Examples in History and Pop Culture

https://brandongaille.com/most-famous-groupthink-examples-in-history-and-pop-culture/

20. Nazi Germany
One symptom of groupthink is a fanatical need to carry out decisions made by the team leader, project manager, or person in charge (no matter how horrific these decisions are.) In the case of Nazi Germany, this is what clearly happened. Hitler used his understanding of group dynamics and above-average ability for public speaking to hold an entire nation in sway. This eventually led to the outbreak of World War 2, the deaths of millions of people, and different groups being oppressed.

Snip...

Conclusion
Groupthink can occur any time you involve a group of people in decision-making. This can have disastrous consequences for the group. The best way to avoid this phenomenon is to make yourself aware of it (studying the above examples will help.) It’s also important that you practice open-mindedness in your thinking and base your decisions on a variety of viewpoints. Also, avoid spending too much time with the group and seek outside advice.

❤️ pants

[Hortensis]

45. "An unusual finger salute, which saw attendees of the rally raise their fingers to the sky,

is also being described by experts on the conspiracy theory as a potential nod to QAnon. "Some on Twitter are calling it a QAnon salute, with 1 finger for 'Where we go 1,' and Trump is playing a pro-Q song as he talks," said Will Sommer, author of an upcoming book on QAnon, in a tweet on Saturday.

Ben Collins, a senior reporter who covers extremism for NBC News, said in a tweet that there is confusion in Trump forums as to why his followers raised their fingers at the rally and whether it was a gesture to the QAnon community.

"Some people think it's for Where We Go 1 We Go All — the QAnon catchphrase," he wrote. "Others think it's to symbolize America First. Whatever it is, it's deeply weird and I haven't seen it before."

No doubt to all of this and also to the unmistakable similarity to the Nazi salute to Adolf Hitler. A minor alteration to the Nazi-saluting at tRump rallies all along.

As for the creepy, ominous background soundtrack:

According to Media Matters, the US-based media watchdog, the soundtrack appears to be a song previously released online with the title "Wwg1wga" — the QAnon slogan. QAnon figures noticed the song choice, perceiving it as a nod to the movement by the former president. "QAnon figures are claiming the use of the song brings some kind of legitimacy for them," said Alex Kaplan, a senior researcher for Media Matters, in a tweet on Saturday.

Last month, Trump posted a video on his social media platform Truth Social using the same audio, per Media Matters. At the time, the former president's spokesperson claimed to Vice that it was not a QAnon song but music by the composer Will Van de Crommert.

However, a Media Matters review using Google's voice assistant and Apple's Shazam app identified it as "Wwg1wga," which stands for "where we go one, we go all," by an artist called Richard Feelgood. QAnon followers celebrated the use of the audio at the time, per Media Matters, with one describing it as "THE mother of all Q proofs" and "the biggest nod they've ever given us."

Both evaluations from https://www.businessinsider.com/video-trump-rally-speaks-qanon-song-plays-crowd-salutes-2022-9

[Beachnutt]

46. I've seen bigger crowds at a junior high school basketball game

[Bristlecone]

47. Maga welcomes the comparison

They strive for it in fact.

[liberal N proud]

49. If that doesn't scare people, we are doomed

[Pinback]

51. "And if you feel moved by the Holy Spirit, brothers and sisters,

come on down front to be baptized in the name of the Lowered.”

[certainot]

53. freud student wilhelm reich wrote "mass psychology of fascism" in 1933 wrt austrian youth and

associated the fascism with masturbation and sexual repression - association of sex with punishment, patriarchy, religious guilt, etc.

in 2003 a survey of previous psych research found 'avoidance of uncertainty' to be a common denominator determining authoritarianism - ("political conservatism as motivated social cognition" - jost et al). authoritarianism is sometimes measured with the Uncertainty Avoidance Index or UAI

the missing link may be the 'sex on the wrong brain' theory, which proposes a unified theory of human thought and behavior suggesting authoritarianism and greed are symptoms of a heritable susceptibility to right handed masturbation, which is worse in males descended from 'old world' civilizations that have been selecting ting for those characteristics for centuries, and associates reproductive impulses with thought processes that require patience and objectivity. that can create an irrational need for closure or certainty. that can turn uncertainty, complexity, nature, etc into sources of anxiety and fear, needing to be controlled or destroyed.

certainty becomes more important than truth and they love leaders who exude the royal certitude - like TFG. it's been normalized and people who get it really bad are elevated to leadership. it needs to be recognized so that people that have it really bad, who are capable of denying reality to create certainty in everything- to avoid their fears - can be recognized as insane.

[Cha]

60. The STUPID BURNS in their Brainwormed

magat cells!

[Rhiannon12866]

61. Twitter reply:

Link to tweet

[blue-wave]

65. OMG!!

His statement about Russia and Ukraine is bizarre at best. This is the guy who called the genocidal leader of Russia a "genius."

Knowing some history, I'm well aware of the issues our country faced internally with fascists before and during WWII. I feel this is similar. American fascists filled Madison Square Garden in the 1930's with a huge rally.

But I ramble. This garbage must be stopped.

[LudwigPastorius]

66. I've got a one finger salute for all the traitorous MAGAts.

[BlueJac]

68. Nazi magats!

How Stupid are these people?

[Justice matters.]

74. Apparently, it's a "new" religion they base on the Constitution and their "patriot bible"

And mango is their messiah... I kid you not!

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1017768424

So let's propose a peaceful deal to these extremist nutjobs to settle the issue:

Let's agree to crucify him and then, wait and see if he comes back from the dead three days after...

If he does resuscitate, we will convert!

If he doesn't, they will stop bothering us with their utter bullshit.

Perfect art of the deal agreement.