Hand Symbols, Raised Arms and QAnon Theme Music: How Recent Far-Right Rallies Took an Ominous Tone
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Two recent moments of audience participation at far-right political rallies have caused a stir, as hand gestures from the crowds were quickly perceived by outsiders as attacks on democracy and possible expressions of hate.
Political rallies typically feature cheering, applause and energetic sign-waving that signify support of the candidate at the podium. It's rare in a post-World War II society, though, for audiences to show their support with a blank face and raised right arm — something Americans who saw footage of the events have been quick to point out.
Over the weekend, two separate groups were seen raising their hands in unison while listening to speeches by former President Donald Trump and Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano. Both politicians have been accused of encouraging neo-Nazis before, and one of the hand gestures appears to be a nod to the QAnon conspiracy theory.
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Donald Trump's Save America Rally
The first rally that sparked controversy was Trump's Save America rally in Youngstown, Ohio, on Saturday, with appearances by Ohio Senate candidate J.D. Vance and Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan.
According to Vice, Trump was on the stage spreading disinformation about the 2020 election and criticizing the FBI's search of his Mar-a-Lago residence before one section of the crowd all raised an arm and extended an index finger.
One meaning of putting a finger in the sky could be a silent way of endorsing the "America First" message, which goes hand-in-hand with the MAGA movement and has been used by many as a nationalistic veil for xenophobia and racism.
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But there's another theory about the hand gestures at the Save America rally that's intertwined with the QAnon conspiracy theory, which posits that a powerful and Satanic child sex trafficking ring has been conspiring against Trump since he launched his political career.
Over time, QAnon believers have embraced a motto of "where we go one, we go all." A song called "wwg1wga" by Richard Feelgood — which sounds identical to the song "Mirrors" by Will Van De Crommert — was adopted as the conspiracy's unofficial theme music.
This campaign season, Trump has been playing "Mirrors" at his events, seemingly trying to get as close to playing "wwg1wga" as he can without technically supporting the fringe group. QAnon believers have taken notice, and shared excitement online that Trump is in their corner. (It's worth noting that "Mirrors" is a sleepy and hard-to-find instrumental; it's not the kind of music Trump's team would accidentally queue up for a political rally.)
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When people raised a finger as "Mirrors" played during Trump's rally Saturday, it appeared possible that the gesture was meant to symbolize the QAnon motto of moving forward as one. And QAnon believers took credit for doing just that.
"Trump ended his speech with the song 'wwg1wga' by Richard Feelgood, which is a blatant Q reference," QAnoner Michael Protzman wrote in his Telegram channel, Vice reports. "During the song, we had a powerful moment where our group held up one finger. A call for unity. Acknowledgement of our one GOD. Wwg1wga. And more. It was magical and completely unplanned as many in the crowd joined us in this gesture. A gesture to say to this beautiful man, 'We're with you.'"
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Doug Mastriano
Doug Mastriano's Chambersburg Rally
The second event that struck concern, after attendees were directed to raise their arms in an eerily similar way to Hitler's "Sieg Heil" salute, was Mastriano's Saturday rally in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania.
Mastriano, who is running for governor of Pennsylvania against state Attorney General Josh Shapiro, has repeatedly come under fire during his campaign for accusations of racism. The Trump-endorsed candidate had ties with social media platform Gab, a safe haven for white supremacists and anti-semites, and was recently condemned by numerous state Republicans when a 2014 photo circulated showing him in Confederate military uniform.
Accusations of anti-semitism against Mastriano — whose Democratic opponent is Jewish — were front of mind when a video circulated from Saturday's rally where he asked everyone in the crowd to raise their right hands in the air before delivering a speech calling for America to have "a new birth of liberty."
He then directed everyone to swiftly bring their hands down on the count of three, and the crowd shouted "as one" in unison as they lowered their arms. Almost immediately, people began pointing to similarities between his rally and those of the Nazi Party.
The Lincoln Project, a political group formed by former and current Republicans in 2019 to prevent Trump's reelection, shared a video from Mastriano's rally comparing the raised arms to Nazi salutes. The video, seen below, was tweeted with the caption, "Don't be naive. They know what they're doing."
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"Yes, this is a Nazi salute, at a Doug Mastriano campaign event in Pennsylvania. In 2022. Democracy is literally on the ballot in November," wrote media commentator and lawyer Tristan Snell in response to footage from Mastriano's event.
Lawyer Aaron Parnas — who once firmly supported Trump before changing parties and becoming a Democratic activist — responded to the footage with his own tweets, writing, "As a Jew in America, this is extremely scary."
"Hate is on the rise across America," Parnas said. "Because of the far-right, anti-Semitic events are extremely prevalent and we are seeing candidates like Doug Mastriano use Nazi-like symbolism in their rallies. November's election is the most important of our lifetimes."
