It’s the sort of thing that could produce a furor.
That picture, coupled with the holding the arm stiff as in salute for the second, not waving it, in the real time … yeah damn.
My natural impulse is to roll-eyes at seeing things like this as Nazi salutes but we have a long series now of campaign shout outs, some pretty damn explicit and undeniable shout outs, to neo-Nazis and White supremacists. I am pathologically skeptical but, yeah, dayum. It’s pretty convincingly an adoring stiff-arm Nazi-style salute aimed at the image of her leader.
No, that would not be what one would call a faux pas … it’s a shout out with enough deniability, something that will be passed along the hate group message boards as yet another sign that this campaign is speaking to them and that wins even bigger if a big deal is made of it as it seems too absurd to be true, as in it couldn’t be that explicit, and would be perceived that way by more than not.
But shit. I really think it was.
And that it would be a mistake to make this a big public attention bit.
So this is what it feels like when your country collapses into chaos.
Wish I had an attic, might need to be hiding some people.
Okay, come on.
Look, I am as horrified by Donald Trump as anyone, but if you take a film of someone waving at someone or pointing or describing someone who’s really tall or moving their arms above their shoulders in any way at all, you will be probably be able to get at least one still of them extending their arm in this fashion. You could have “caught” Nelson Mandela doing this while waving to someone. It’s getting silly.
It’s a shout out to actual neo-Nazis? That’s a fascinating theory; how many neo-Nazis vote in U.S. elections? How many are there at all?
Has to be Hillary Clinton’s fault.
banana cream pie to the face!
Case in point of why we do not make a big deal out of this. This would be the more common reaction, and understandably so. I am very convinced that this was no simple wave any more than the neo-Nazi messageboard created Star of David tweet was a sheriff’s star or a star like used in Frozen … but the deniability is greater and it comes off as too absurd to actually be true.
Nevertheless the shivers I feel are real.
How many are there who actually read those White supremacist messageboards? More than I think you think RickJay.
I don’t think so - some people are claiming they can see what she was doing, but there’s a lot of people who are saying that they can nazi it.
I was just Goring to say the same thing.
Here is real-time of the wave/salute (scroll down a little).
As I said, I think it was an interrupted wave, but she definitely extends her arm , and then takes a beat before waving to the rest of the crowd. And she was probably just pointing to/acknowledging Trump. She really should have used her index finger instead of her whole hand - but I’d guess she maybe didn’t know that Trump was on the screen, and paused to acknowledge him.
It’s mostly just another failure of controlling optics (somewhat similar to the “white elevator” sign). Certainly at least as big a deal as the Obama’s “terrorist fist-bump”, which got a lot of play at the time (for similarly stupid reasons).
And speaking of optics - Donald looming over the convention from the big screen when it isn’t his speech reminds a bit of Big Brother. And yes, that is also an over the top comparison.
Now, now, I’m sure she was just heiling a friend she saw in the crowd.
Trying to quantify for you … according to this NYT article Stormfront alone has about about “40,000 visitors a day” and “more than a million a month (a figure that includes repeat visitors).” And their traffic is spiking with Trump, doubling even by last fall, and by now?
Again, I think more than you think.
And again, best ignored. Yeah, it was an innocent interrupted wave into point. Yeah.
I think the screen is on her left side, and she is not looking at it, but at the audience.
Now, I heard in passing that a) the Trump team totally knew exactly what Cruz was going to say and gave it their official Okey-Doke and b) that Cruz did submit a copy of his intended speech but then changed it when he got up in front. No reacharound, just a jolly good rogering.
So, a), and they knew what he was gonna do but were cool with it for reasons that elude a reasoning person like myself or b) Cruz is a neutron density asshole who just couldn’t resist that chance to stick his thumb in Trump’s eye.
Anyone got further evidence?
I wonder if i can put this on the bottom of my posts. You know, use it as a seig file.
It’s just an interrupted wave, and not a big deal…unless you count all of the other things Trump and his supporters have said. It does not make minorities feel good about living in this country!
ETA: And you all, stop it with the puns! Bad! He who would pun would pick a pocket! Anyway puns are only funny when I tell them. 
Supposedly, according to a few news reports I heard this AM, Trumps campaign had the transcript beforehand, as did a few key news organizations. Reports are that he really did not deviate from it in any meaningful way, including the “vote your conscience” line.
If these reports are true, then we need to seriously reevaluate Trump’s “Art of the Deal”, because that is some horrible deal making there. The Big Cheeto needed Cruz to speak, hoping that it would curry him some favor with the evangelicals, but he should have negotiated Cruz into accepting a slot on Monday, which is where you hide speakers who may not 100% agree with you.
You know, kinda what Hilary has done to position Bernie on Monday night next week at the DNC. She needs him to speak, but she knows better than to put him in a prime spot. And certainly not on the night when the VP candidate is speaking!!
And his staged entrance of coming out while Ted was ending his specch just seemed like something that would be orchestrated by Vince McMahon on one his tacky as fuck wrasslin shows. Wait, McMahon is a big buddy with the Big Cheeto. Maybe we now know who is actually running this campaign
What a maroon.
I had not intended on watching any of the convention, but Bill Maher’s show had a delayed start due to Pence’s speech running past 8PM PDT, so I figured I’d tune in just to kill time. I actually thought he was a very effective speaker. Better than the ones I’ve heard excepts from on the news.
To avoid looking silly, or to avoid feeding Donald the Troll?
I wonder if the Trumpers are so inexperienced at politics that they didn’t realise the difference that a skilled speaker like Ted can do with a text, and turn what looks like a bland “no endorsement” into a shivved in the back. It’s all in the delivery.
(I’ve always said Ted is a smart guy. I think this episode is a good example of his smarts and street fighting skills. Also shows why his Senate colleagues hate him, if he does that sort of thing with them…)