Happen upon this page while looking at YouTube and I was immediately struck by the numeric symbolism of the Trump campaign’s text to vote number “88022”.
Having studied right-wing extremism — as a liberal in the south you do pick up on some things — the first two numbers caught my attention: ‘88’
Use of the prefix ‘88’ in this context was a literal slap in my face.
This is because 88 is numeric shorthand in the white nationalist ranks as Heil Hitler. This is based on “H” being the eighth letter of the alphabet … I.e. “HH” or “88” is short for Heil Hitler who remains the world champion promoter of the bogus science of eugenics — a still popular ‘pseudo-scientific’ theory held close to the heart by many in the far right.
So what does “022” mean in this context?
There is no particular known shorthand for ‘22’ or ‘022’ in the right wing lexicon but it would make sense as a declaration of a date: 2022. The year 2022 is the year, whether or not Trump wins, that the white nationalist party seeks to complete the dictatorial takeover of the US by abolishing Congress.
The main reason the campaigns are seeking to get folks to signup using the text-number system is they are building lists of cohorts they can communicate with immediately for flash-mob demonstrations … as well a reminders to vote. The cell phone number also gives them deep insight into the predilections of those ‘joining’ the campaign including age, income, race, sex, marital status, religious affiliation and even whether, if it is a woman’s phone, her use of contraception or the level of her flow from associated purchase decisions in one’s ‘consumer file’ available to advertisers through Facebook profiles, etc.
This deep understanding of the personalities of those who simply text a number is available to modern campaign staffs who, as GOP operative Stuart Stevens, who wrote the book “It is all a lie” admits, focus solely on winning elections at any cost.
I know this is absolutely whacky thinking but remember I talking about conspiracy-addled folks whose fascination with numerology and the like extends back centuries. I mean seven-eleven is more than the brand of a convenience store; the number 13 is particularly concerning for millions when that date drops on a Friday and a whole host of other absurd associations. Hell the right-wing has a whole host of addled number-associations (link).
I think it is inconceivable that no thought went into number selections of this sort and that being clever is one of the reasons one chooses one number over another.
For instance, the text number for Joe Biden is 30330 … which as a former journalist I recognize because of the affinity those in this profession have of denoting the end of a story with -30-. If I were choosing a number for this from my ‘democratic’ mindset, I’d read that text number to mean “the-end of Trump — three terms of Democrats — followed by the end of that ‘run’ … i.e. after 12 years we’re looking at a near complete change is leadership. After all 12 years is considered ‘good run’ in a modern cycle in presidential control by a single political party before that ends.
Most of us know that the use of numbers can be used to convey these kinds of thoughts.
What we don’t know is how those who self-select to join such a list will be employed in the campaign? We do know that the deep data operations of at least the Trump campaign (I suspect that the Biden campaign is pretty sophisticated in this way as well) will allow the campaign to select subsets of those responding based on various other psychographic traits.
The point is because of the ability to take someone’s phone number and extrapolate their level of commitment to and including the willingness to attend a rally or travel to another state with their AR-15 to police “antifa” or some other fringe activity is a reality in todays uber-connected world. It is far more than a ‘comfort’ number created in the minds of folks who gain confidence from their group associations.
I suspect that if confronted, those in the Trump campaign would repudiate the meaning I divine in the“88022” but I suspect — even if they hadn’t thought of it before — their rejection would come with a wink and a nod. But to imagine they didn’t think about it, given their really outlandish efforts to engage those from the Bundy boys to the Boogaloo bois with Neo-Nazi’s, Kluxers, skinheads and Q’s in their effort to revive the long-dead confederacy and its endorsement of the idea that inequality is distinct and unrelated to injustice, is unthinkable.
I also think it is undeniable that efforts to engage those wackos on the right will require assertions of action a lot like the 'coded’ notion that we’ll all be saying “Heil Hitler by 2022” to them in play.