Was the CPAC Stage Designed to Look Like Nazi Insignia?

There is no evidence to support the claim.

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After the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), which took place at the Hyatt Regency Orlando, social media users have claimed that the CPAC stage was designed to look like a Nazi insignia known as an Odal or Othala Rune.

Other posts acknowledge the stark resemblance between the Nazi symbol and the stage, but question if the design was intentional or not:

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  1. Mary Stine

    Thanks for this, but I am way more worried about the obvious neo-nazis that stormed the capital...who had their symbols right side up. This one is upside down from the audience point of view.

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    Mike B

    But wait! The stage design as viewed from the audience side is an upside-down rune! Surely that must be significant too? Perhaps a subtle dig by the stage design people at CPAC, turning over their hate symbol?

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  3. Michael

    It’s seems like a waste of time and resources for TD to fact check something that is so self evidently absurd.

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      Isaac P

      There are a lot of absurdities being taken at face value by people who ought to know better. Did you see the item about Navy Seals arresting Hillary?

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    Alfie K

    I don’t get it... how are they even comparable?
    Because they have angles?
    People finding patterns because they’re searching for is how we end up with things
    Iike Q

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    Show Jay Janney the 🚪!

    The problem is in how much of the design is considered the rune and not. From different angles and depending on how much it shows, it looks more/(less) like the Othala Rune.

    When I look at the WV logo, if I remove two bars from it, it is the Othala Rune. Since WV dates back the Nazi era, is that a coincidence, or proof they are fahrfegbuggen for world domination?

    Me, I think the CPAC design is as guilty of Nazi signaling as the WV logo! da da dah!

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  6. Richard Fulmer

    This reminds me of the far-left's conflicting stories about George W. Bush:
    1. He is a mindless idiot
    2. He is an evil genius who engineered the Twin Towers collapse to provide an excuse for war

    This version's stories are:
    1. CPAC is a clown show featuring ignorant buffoons pandering to other buffoons who are even more ignorant
    2. CPAC is run by brilliant history buffs who are sending dog whistles to other brilliant history buffs

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      Aylene Wright

      To be fair much of the far right (hi MTG) is echoing what used to be far left talking points. Also "Nevertrump RINOs are totally powerless & irrelevant/ NTs are to blame for everything bad that happened to the GOP".

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      1. Richard Fulmer

        The MAGA crowd has adopted so much from the left that their red caps are their only distinguishing feature.

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          Luke Thompson (not that one)

          Including their leader.

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  7. Digitalcamo280

    Cynic here that basically expects the worst out of both parties anymore. It's reasonable to assume that most people in the approval process honestly didn't put two and two together on this one. I also think it's perfectly plausible that with how well educated a lot of these people are supposed to be that at least one or two people within the design/approval process would've noticed the similarity. At that point they either chose to say nothing or they deliberately approved it as just another middle finger towards the left to rally the base.

    It can't be proven but I find it hard to believe that this didn't cross anybody's mind.

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      Jeff Greene

      I was a huge WWII buff growing up, and read a lot of political stuff from across ideological spectrums, and I was totally unaware of this particular symbol.

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    2. Ryan

      I could see that if it had been a somewhat more ubiquitous symbol like the swastika, but the association of particular Norse runes with neo-nazis and the far-right is a pretty obscure bit of trivia for the vast vast majority of people.

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    Pat Riot

    If there's no evidence, then fine, there's no evidence. Move along.

    The problem is, in today's Republican party, we have to acknowledge that it's not impossible that this was intentional.

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  9. Alex DeLarge

    It's a square stage with two right angle walkways attached . . .

    Seriously, "fact checking" whether CPAC intended to send a "dog whistle" to the all-important demographic of obscure SS insignia aficionodos is almost as dumb as making the accusation in the first place.

    The only proper response should have been mockery of the claim and debunking the ADL's nonsense about hateful geometry. Don't buy into the leftist issue-frame and then whimper meekly that there is "no evidence" conservatives were intentionally racist. Sheesh. It's no wonder conservatives do nothing but lose and whine.



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    Aylene Wright

    Unfortunately most people pushing this theory have pretty much dismissed the Design Foundry statement with "well of course they would deny doing it deliberately, this is just gaslighting" or "they are stating here that CPAC had input into the design process, so even if the Design Foundry people themselves didn't notice that the design was a Nazi symbol, the people at CPAC surely must have, because they pander to the alt-right all the time! So they obviously meant for the design to appeal to Nazis!"

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      George.Skinner

      A more cynical take might be that the design is an ironic statement throwing shade at CPAC.
      I can imagine a designer submitting a stage design in the shape of a Nazi rune knowing damned well what it looked like. Then CPAC liked it and used it without ever catching onto the irony. This is quite possibly an insult that went right over the heads of the people being insulted.

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About Khaya Himmelman

Khaya Himmelman is a fact checker for The Dispatch. She is a graduate of Columbia Journalism School and Barnard College.
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