00:00Nazi symbolism and imagery continue to move from the dark corners of the Internet to the political mainstream in the U.S.
00:10And we are trying to appeal and reach more people.
00:13That's just one of many neo-Nazi rallies we've seen over the last couple of years here in the U.S.
00:19Nazi symbolism and imagery continues to move into mainstream U.S. politics.
00:24A lot of extremist symbology and rhetoric that, you know, once relegated to kind of the dark corners of the Internet or fringe groups are now becoming mainstream in general.
00:38Other recent examples include a young Republican's group chat with messages that included things like, I love Hitler.
00:45Members of the Trump administration downplayed that as kids making jokes, even though some of those people were nearly 40 years old.
00:52Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.
00:56They tell edgy, offensive jokes like that's what kids do.
00:59If you go back 10 years ago, you'd have to go into spaces like, you know, 4chan or to Telegram and different forums where you would have the sort of things that are now being joked about in public.
01:13So what brought this ideology out of the bowels of the Internet to the mainstream?
01:18I think generally the Republican Party has stopped policing its own.
01:23It used to be the case that if you disclosed that somebody was an anti-Semite or a racist or whatever the case might be, that the Republican Party would toss them out.
01:34President Trump has publicly denounced Nazis and white supremacists and has been vocal in his ongoing support of Israel.
01:41I'm not a Nazi. I'm the opposite of a Nazi.
01:44Despite that, Trump and other leaders in his administration have either embraced far-right nationalists or, at the very least, failed to condemn them.
01:52That includes Trump's dinner with Holocaust denier and Hitler supporter Nick Fuentes.
01:57Earlier this month, Trump's nominee to lead the Office of Special Counsel withdrew after it was found he said he had a, quote, Nazi streak.
02:06At this point, the Trump administration doesn't care if it's got extremists in the ranks.
02:11Then there's this example from last year's campaign.
02:13In Springfield, they're eating the dogs, the people that came in.
02:18They're eating the cats.
02:19They're eating the pets of the people that live there.
02:25That claim started with a neo-Nazi group known as the Blood Tribe.
02:29They believe Hitler is a literal god.
02:32Their iconography is straight-up Nazi stuff, swastikas, blood drops, SS symbols.
02:38Professors and organization leaders we spoke with said most Americans are not extremists, and they hope it stays that way.
02:45You know, the extremes get the loudest, you know, have the loudest voices and they get the most attention.
02:49That's not what America is right now.
02:52America is not, is mostly people in the middle who don't agree with these things and to find like-minded people who can support you and give you hope.
03:00There's all this common ground.
03:01And so in this world of social media, algorithms, demagogues, populism, influencers, you know, what's shared is erased from view.
03:12But that's there, that exists, and that's also a cause for hope.
03:17If you want more on this story, download the Straight Arrow News app or visit san.com.
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