NBC pundit says Trump’s order to fly flags at half-staff after shootings could be nod to Hitler

Donald Trump has ordered American flags to be flown at half-staff until August 8 in memory of the victims of last week’s shootings — but one NBC contributor thinks the date could be seen as a secret nod to neo-Nazis.

Trump issued a proclamation to lower flags to half-staff at the White House and other government and military buildings on Sunday to mourn the victims of shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio. The flags will return to full-staff on Thursday, August 8 — but former FBI assistant director for counterintelligence turned-NBC pundit Frank Figliuzzi has seen a possible conspiracy in the date.

Figliuzzi explained that the number 88 is “very significant in the neo-Nazi and white supremacist movement”due to the fact that ‘H’ is the eighth letter of the alphabet and“the numbers 88 together stand for Heil Hitler.”

“So we’re going to be raising the flag back up at dusk on 8/8. No one is thinking about this,”Figliuzzi said, warning about the “language and messaging” of the decision.

It is true that white supremacists use the number 88 as an abbreviation of ‘Heil Hitler’, but perhaps “no one is thinking” about it in this context because most people don’t think in terms of everything being a coded shout-out to neo-Nazis?

Figliuzzi said Trump did not necessarily pick the date “deliberately” but said it was still an example of the “the ignorance of the adversary” (white supremacists) that is being “demonstrated by the White House.”

Before offering his thoughts on the number 88, Figliuzzi said Trump could even be seen as a “radicalizer” and “almost a mentor” to white nationalists.

Trump has been accused by Democrats and many in the media of being “responsible” for the two latest mass shootings, with many pointing to “racist” and divisive language he has used in the past.

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