Hillary Clinton offered a sharp rebuke of former President Trump’s most recent campaign event in Ohio, saying it reminded her of a Nazi rally.
“I remember as a young student, you know, trying to figure out, how people get basically drawn in by Hitler. How did that happen? I’d watch newsreels and I’d see this guy standing up there ranting and raving, and people shouting and raising their arms. I thought, ‘What’s happened to these people?’” Clinton said Friday at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin.
“You saw the rally in Ohio the other night, Trump is there ranting and raving for more than an hour, and you have these rows of young men with their arms raised. I thought, ‘What is going on?’”
Clinton was alluding to a Sept. 17 rally in Youngstown, Ohio, for GOP senate candidate J.D. Vance, which Trump attended.
Video from the event shows a number of his supporters raising their arms with the index finger pointing upward — which some took as a reference to a salute associated with the Qanon conspiracy theory. Others wondered if they might have simply been signaling “No. 1” to punctuate a point Trump made in his speech.
“My fellow citizens, this incredible journey we’re on together has only just begun, and it is time to start talking about greatness for our country again. We are one movement, one people, one family, and one glorious American nation,” Trump said as dramatic music played.
A rep for Trump called the Qanon speculation a “dopey conspiracy.”
“As usual, the media is working hand in hand with the Democrats weeks before an election,” said spokesman Taylor Budowich.
Clinton has frequently derided the billionaire and his supporters, most famously calling them a “basket of deplorables” during the campaign.
“It seems like perpetual-failed-candidate Hillary Clinton’s basket of deplorables has run stale, not unlike herself,” said Budowich “It’s pathetic, it’s divisive, and it is further cementing her legacy of cringe.”
“You have these rows of young men with their arms raised.” Hillary Clinton compares Trump rally to how Nazis were drawn to Hitler. pic.twitter.com/sEfiQAfLG2
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) September 23, 2022
