There is no Republican Civil War. It is fully the Party of Trump.

Let's be more specific.

Demiurge alleges that Republicans have used a fascist symbol in connection with CPAC.

You allege in so many words that he and some left-wing WFers are conspiracy theorists for thinking that.

tafkats responds by saying Republicans have elected someone who believes in an anti-semitic conspiracy.

In bringing up what WFers supposedly believe, you are engaging in whataboutism, because what WFers believe has nothing to do with whether the symbol is a fascist symbol and if so, if it was adopted deliberately. It's perfectly reasonable to argue that "I don't think that the Republicans would do that. Any similarity is purely a coincidence." Or to otherwise deal with the subject headon.

In responding, tafkats brings up the Jewish space lasers thing. While there is a fair reading that this is an attempt to distract from the discussion, it actually pertains to the original topic. It is reasonable to read the symbol used by Republicans as fascistic when they have made a member who spews antisemetic conspiracies into a superstar.

The Republican Party has become, in form if not in content, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union of the late 1970s.

awesome! Getting completely rid of an entire political party will speed up Biden's "unity" idea.

Lincoln and Roosevelt are spinning in their graves on Mt Rushmore

Yeah, so it took them a while to come forward and say that they fucked up. If I, inadvertently, designed something that looked like a Nazi symbol, not only would I immediately say, "Holy shit! I fucked up!" I'd bust my ass to alter it so that it didn't look like a Nazi symbol. But that's just me. YMMV.

Yeah, this bit is crap:

If they were going for best use of the space, why have those gaps in the design where nobody could stand? Better to make it solid all (or most) of the way across.

And, apparently, those wings were never used by anyone. So why have them there?

I found it unbelievable too, so I googled it.

You're officially a member of a pretty fucked up party, or you're incredibly dense.

Uh, you do know that the foremost exponents of the "Unitary Theory" of government were Republicans don't you?
Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, and Bill Clinton all actively pursued expanded presidential powers. One particularly stunning example was President Clinton's claim that sitting presidents are immune from lawsuits, a position the Supreme Court rejected in Clinton v. Jones in 1997.

it turns out that the symbol is not as "obvious" or common as was claimed. I heard one of the people who contracted out the stage building talking on the radio today. There were people with degrees in history that didn't even know about this symbol until people started bringing this up online. It is not by any stretch as well known as a swastika for example. So at the end of the day....not a "gotcha" just a big nothing burger - surprise surprise.

I don't know nearly as much about the Wehrmacht as I do the Kriegsmarine. I know even less about the specifics within the SS. But, I've followed this stuff since I was a kid and I'd never seen or heard of that symbol before last week.

If it was intentional, that's some Hydra-level evil shit right there. I tend to think it's just a deliciously ironic coincidence. Much yummier than your nothing burger.

The US national socialists literally put it on their flag replacing the Swastika in 2016.

They did so when Trump was elected, thinking it was their time to enter mainstream politics.

This is the American Nazi Party.

And this is hardly the first time the Republicans have used Nazi imagery or symbolism. They've led marketing campaigns with Auschwitz symbols for political prisoners, appropriated the Eagle symbol of the Nazi Party, and used specific neo-nazi phrases such as 88, code for Heil Hitler.

Hell, they've been caught giving Heil Trump salutes multiple times.

Again, the American Nazi party switched to that symbol in 2016, to become more 'mainstream', and it was explicitly because Trump was elected.

https://www.adl.org/education/references/hate-symbols/othala-rune
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_Movement_(United_States)

And Laura Ingraham was just waving/pointing at Trump in this clip. It is totally natural and if you see anything there it is only because you want to see it.

The design company behind the stage at CPAC said they had 'no idea' it resembled Nazi insignia

https://www.businessinsider.com/cpac-nordic-rune-stage-design-firm-no-idea-nazi-symbol-2021-3

Design firm takes responsibility for CPAC stage controversy

https://forward.com/fast-forward/465136/design-firm-takes-responsibility-for-cpac-stage-controversy/

I have a hard time believing Design Foundry knowingly designed a stage to look like a racist symbol.

Interesting Twitter thread:

"this was fucking real tho, and nobody can tell me that it wasnt what it was" - John Ganz on twitter

Hmmm.....where have I heard something similar? Wait, I know! All the Trump voters claiming shenanigans that you dismiss as crazy, delusional and gullible. Any thoughts?

Are you suggesting accusing the election boards in all 50 states of voter fraud is comparable to seeing the Hitler salute on camera?

We have to be really careful with stuff like this. If I, without thinking, don't bend my elbow during a benediction, I could be accused of the same thing and I assure you I would never, ever do that.

There's only so many times that excuse flies. Just like the "ok" sign, and the white shoelaces, and shaving the head. At some point, you have got to say to yourself "that's just too many coincidence".

The odds of this being a coincidence seem startingly low.

If it was a Liberal owner, this might have been on purpose.

Either way, it makes the GOP look either villainous or idiotic.

Sorry. The GOP has gone full biblical evil. Worshiping golden idols? A stage in the form of the national socialist (that's nazi you fuckers) party's insignia?

I'd say this was just icing on the cake after the last for years, but it isn't. It's 50 shades of grey darker.

I fear for our future.

Why would a liberal group risk their business on something like this? That doesn't make any sense. It's not like it's a complex geometric figure. It's a very simple pattern, and an astonishingly few people have any idea what it would mean.

Odds of it being a coincidence seem amazingly high to me.

You've gotta think that someone (either from the company or from the client) was like:

I think it's the facial expression as well that gives it a Third Reich vibe...
Then she starts to wave and smile...

Why would a liberal company take on a client like CPAC? On this podcast, one of the hosts talks about why she recognized the rune (and that it’s one of three tied to Nazism that’s banned in Germany) and how she thinks that it’s highly unlikely that it was an accident. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podca...at-andrew-mccabe/id1549502623?i=1000511410251

To me, the curious thing is the delay in issuing a denial. The whole thing blew up over social media and it took days to respond. First rule of PR is to get ahead of bad news.

Yep. It’s why the video is so much better than the still image. As others have pointed out if you grab a pic at the right time and angle you can get something that looks like the Nazi salute that isn’t.

However the pause (meaning it wasn’t part of some other movement) and the expression change going from salute to wave is a little too much.

In some ways it is indeed comparable and here is why: both are silly, baseless accusations depending on your point of view.
In one case what side X sees is obvious to side X because "we all know how those Y people are. They are evil enough to pull shit like this." Side Y calls side X delusional idiots.
In the other case what side Y sees is obvious to side Y because "we all know how those X people are. They are evil enough to pull shit like this." Side X calls side Y delusional idiots.
In both cases people interpret what they see differently. That's my point.