“Trump Supporter Who Made Nazi Salute Explains Why She Made the Gesture”
“After the rally was canceled, the Petersons found themselves in the middle of a group of protesters, some of whom they described as “rude.” One was holding a poster with a picture of Adolf Hitler on it.
Ms. Peterson, who was born in West Berlin in 1946 and became an American citizen in 1982, said she took offense to the comparison of Mr. Trump to Hitler.
“They said Trump is a second Hitler,” Ms. Peterson said. “I said do you know what that sign stands for? Do you know who Hitler really was?”
“I make the point that they are demonstrating something they had no knowledge about,” she said. “If you want to do it right, you do it right. You don’t know what you are doing.”
That is when she made the Nazi salute — a gesture that is banned in Germany — as a form of counterprotest. But that is all it was, she said.”
So, this is complicated, and I remain unclear about what exactly she meant — it sounds like a split-second decision that she doesn’t quite know the meaning of. No matter her intention, it has likely made a lot of people feel less safe.
But I am really struck by the question she asks: “Do you know who Hitler really was?” It gets at something about these anti-Trump protests that is bothering me: It seems like when we finally admit that someone is racist, it immediately goes to ‘and they are Hitler!’. I so want for there to be some recognition of the middle ground.
Donald Trump isn’t Hitler; as much as it might make us more comfortable, he isn’t an “other” or fundamentally distinct from American consciousness. And if we protest his campaign and his supporters from the perspective that they don’t “belong” here… Then we’re all just yelling the same terrifying message at each other and building violence.
Protest his proposed policies; protest his acceptance of violence at his rallies; build grassroots communication campaigns to speak with Trump supporters and build bridges to help them feel more heard by other candidates.
But don’t do Friday again. If for no other reason than the fact that this is the reaction he wants.
