No, the Trump campaign is not selling signs with swastikas on them

Former President Donald Trump’s campaign has not officially embraced a swastika. 

Contrary to some social media claims, a sign with a swastika for Trump, the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, is not sanctioned by the campaign. 

Claims began to surface Oct. 27 after social media users shared pictures of a sign that featured a swastika — a symbol associated with Nazi Germany — with a “T” in the middle, above Trump branding. 

One Threads user claimed the photos showed “Trump funded signs with swastikas on them.” 

The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook, Instagram and Threads.) 

Similar posts appeared on Facebook and X, claiming the Trump campaign had produced and paid for the sign. 

Facebook user Elizabeth Grushkowsky told PolitiFact she first posted the photos in a South Carolina Women for Harris Walz Facebook group. Grushkowsky said she saw the sign when driving on the road and stopped to take photos, which she shared online.

The sign’s features match an official Trump campaign sign, which does not include a swastika. Like other Trump signs, the sign in the photos had a disclaimer in the bottom right corner saying it was “paid for by Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee … and authorized by Donald J. Trump for President 2024, Inc.”

But the sign with a swastika is not an official Trump campaign sign, local authorities and the Trump campaign said. Trump campaign spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer said it was not a campaign-funded sign, saying the “fake sign is abhorrent.” 

Faith Jackson, the Barnwell County Sheriff’s Office’s records clerk, told PolitiFact that there was a sign with a swastika at the spot pictured, which was a public roadway. Local Republicans were notified that the sign had a swastika, and they removed the sign sometime between Oct. 26 and 27, Jackson said. 

Jackson said the sheriff’s office does not know how the image ended up on the sign, but she said the sign was not originally placed with a swastika on it.

“The sign was definitely tampered with,” Jackson said, adding that “it wasn’t put out with that on there, somebody put it there.”

So although the sign in the photos was real, and it was up in Barnwell, South Carolina, it was not an official campaign sign and was tampered with.

We rate the claim that the photos showed “Trump funded signs with swastikas on them” False.

By

Caleb McCullough

Staff writer

November 1, 2024

Truth-o-meter Ruling

False

IF YOUR TIME IS SHORT

• A Trump sign with a swastika was seen in Barnwell, South Carolina. Local authorities said the sign had been altered to add the swastika. 

• The Trump campaign said it was a fake sign and called it "abhorrent."

Statement

Photos show “Trump funded signs with swastikas on them.”

Context

a Threads post

Speaker/Target

Speaker: Threads posts

Statement Date

October 29, 2024