Spencer has publicly engaged in Nazi rhetoric on many occasions, for which he has been criticized by the political mainstream, and also by various fellow white nationalists, who believe Spencer's flamboyant rhetoric and persona marginalize their movement.[13][14][15][16][17] In early 2016, Spencer was filmed giving the Nazi salute in a karaoke bar.[18] After Donald Trump was elected President, Spencer urged his supporters to "party like it's 1933," a reference to the year in which Hitler came to power in Germany.[19]In the weeks following the election, at a National Policy Institute conference, Spencer quoted from Nazi propaganda and denounced Jews, and also used the German term "Lügenpresse" ("lying press") to vilify journalists.[9] Later, in response to Spencer's cry "Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!", a number of his supporters gave the Nazi salute and chanted in a similar fashion to the Sieg Heil chant used at the Nazis' Nuremberg rallies.[20][21] Spencer later called Trump's election "the victory of will", a phrase evoking the title of Leni Riefenstahl's Triumph of the Will (1935), a Nazi-era propaganda film.[9] Spencer has also expressed admiration for the political tactics of American Nazi Party founder George Lincoln Rockwell, who in Spencer's view used "shock [as] a positive means to an end".[22]
