The claim: Trump funded campaign sign with swastika on it
An Oct. 29 Threads post (direct link, archive link) includes photos of a blue campaign sign for former President Donald Trump with a Nazi symbol embedded in a logo.
“You can’t call republicans Nazis just because you don’t like them,” the post reads. “Here is Trump funded signs with swastikas on them.”
It was reposted more than 650 times in six days. Other versions of the claim that used the same photos, including ones that claimed the sign was spotted in Barnwell, South Carolina, spread on Facebook and X, formerly Twitter.
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Our rating: False
There’s no evidence the swastika sign came from Trump’s campaign. A Barnwell County official told PolitiFact the sign was tampered with, and a Trump spokesperson told USA TODAY the sign was “fake.” A local GOP official said close-up images suggest the logo was a sticker placed over a legitimate campaign sign.
Posts circulate amid Democratic Party efforts to compare Trump, Hitler
The claim circulated after The New York Times reported on Oct. 22 that Trump said, “You know, Hitler did some good things, too,” according to former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly. The Atlantic also published an article making similar assertions. Spokespeople for Trump refuted both stories.
The Democratic National Committee subsequently projected “Trump praised Hitler,” on the exterior of Madison Square Garden when former first lady Melania Trump joined her husband onstage during his rally there, prompting her to later say “He is not Hitler” during a “Fox & Friends” appearance.
But a yard sign with the swastika logo seen in the social media posts is not among merchandise available for purchase from the Trump campaign, and officials said the claim is false.
“The sign was definitely tampered with,” Barnwell County Sheriff’s Office records clerk Faith Jackson told PolitiFact. “It wasn’t put out with that on there, somebody put it there.”
A close review of the logo shows “a line consistent with a sticker placed over” a legitimate yard sign sold by the Trump campaign, Abby Zilch, a spokesperson for the South Carolina Republican Party, told USA TODAY.
“This was absolutely not produced by the Trump campaign or anyone associated with the Republican Party,” Zilch said. “We condemn any and all forms of antisemitism and encourage local law enforcement to continue their efforts to identify those responsible.”
Trump spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer also told USA TODAY the “fake sign is abhorrent.”
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A Massachusetts man was arrested on suspicion of painting a swastika on a Trump campaign sign in late October, as the Boston Globe reported.
USA TODAY previously debunked claims that authentic images show a headline from The Atlantic saying “Trump is literally Hitler” and a Trump post on Truth Social saying “I hate Adolf Hitler.”
USA TODAY reached out to the Barnwell County Sheriff’s Office and the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive responses.
Snopes also addressed the claim.
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: No evidence swastika yard sign is from Trump campaign | Fact check
