Deus Vult etc.

Recently I was following a pickup truck that was flying a Confederate flag and concluded that the driver had racist leanings. In 2018 those who go to the trouble of purchasing and displaying that flag do so because they want to make a statement, a not so subtle statement that whites are superior to blacks. As I came closer, I noticed the owner had a Trump bumper sticker. No surprise there. But then I noticed a Latin phrase in Old English script. That was a surprise. Is this white supremacist fluent in Latin? Possible.

On the other hand, what did she mean with the phrase, "Deus Vult"? Simply translated it means "God wills," or "God wills it." By itself, it means very little without an explanation of what it is that God wills. Does God will that little boys urinate on "Chevy"? That was the subject of a decal next to Deus Vult.

Once home I did a bit of searching and found that "Deus Vult" is an insider reference used by white supremacists to express their Islamophobia. Members of the alt-right, a phrase used to include racists, xenophobes, and other hate groups, apparently chose this phrase as a dog whistle to each other during the 2016 election.

Why? Apparently, the phrase is a piece of Crusader iconography. It was the battle cry of Pope Urban II's first crusade. In that context it means God wills the destruction of Muslims. Thus the alt-right uses it to justify their Islamophobia. In fact, vandals have used it to deface mosques and other structures.

The use of code words or political "dog whistles" is typical of hate groups. Realizing their hatred is not shared by the general public, they rely on insider signs to identify each other.

Most recently, it has become popular to consider the hand signal which in the past meant "okay" to be a "white power" sign used by Donald Trump's base supporters.  A Coast Guard employee on the hurricane duty checked to see that he was in view of the TV camera, flashed the sign and then pretended to scratch his face. He was relieved of his duty.

A few weeks earlier, at the Brett Kavanaugh hearings in the Senate, many maintain that Zina Bash, Kavanaugh's former law clerk,  flashed the same symbol while sitting behind the nominee. The video went viral and was considered by many to as a message to white supremacists.

The alt-right has many other signs and codes.

The numbers, 1488 or 14/88,  appear frequently in neo-Nazi propaganda. It refers to two racist concepts.  First, 88 represents two H's (8th letter of the alphabet) for HH (Heil Hitler). "14" refers to the "Fourteen Words" of white supremacist David Lane. His 14 words are: "We must secure the future of our existence and a future for white children." Others say it refers to the 14 words: "Because the beauty of the White Aryan woman must not perish from the earth." Either way, the words speak to the hearts of white supremacists.*

Another code of the alt-right is to enclose someone's name in triple parentheses. They use the parentheses to identify (star) Jewish journalists. However, this code is no longer very effective because Twitter has eliminated its use and many other journalists have used the parentheses to make such identification meaningless.


There are many more political dog whistles of the various hate groups, but one of the most pernicious is the reference to "helicopters" or "helicopter rides." The reference is to the practice of removing political opponents by taking them for a helicopter ride over the ocean and then throwing them out. When these hate groups suggest someone should be taken for a helicopter ride, they are suggesting a modern alternative to lynching.
Hate groups feel the use of code words and signs gives the "insiders" an added sense of belonging, but the fact remains, these people are consumed and driven by their fear of the "other."

*Many consider the hand signal to be a hoax; others consider it to be meaningless since it such a popular gesture which was used to mean "okay."