Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Trump abbreviates Secret Service as S.S. — although he knows the right way to do it

In a tweet Thursday morning, President Trump abbreviated “Secret Service” to “S.S.” — also the abbreviation for the Schutzstaffel, a paramilitary organization created by Adolf Hitler. One of its units was responsible for enforcing Nazi racial policy.

The accepted abbreviation for the Secret Service is USSS, and Trump has tweeted using that form in the past.

The Jewish Democratic Council of America called the tweet “Another dog whistle to white supremacists and neo-Nazis.” Adding, “@realDonaldTrump is the biggest threat to American Jews.”

Trump is known for his cavalier manner with spelling, punctuation and capitalization on Twitter, but in this case he may well have abbreviated the name of his team of personal bodyguards merely to make sure his tweet fit, as it exactly fits Twitter’s 280-character limit.

Related story: Did Donald Trump Keep Hitler Speeches By His Bed?

Jewish Twitter took note.

Others pointed out that the Secret Service’s actual abbreviation is USSS, which also would have fit within the character limit.

The tweet followed a series on Wednesday night in which Trump threatened to take control of the city of Seattle, the site of intense protest.

“These ugly Anarchists must be stooped IMMEDIATELY. MOVE FAST!” the president wrote.

The SS was responsible for deporting Jews to concentration camps and ghettos, and was the main group tasked with murdering Jews as a part of Hitler’s “Final Solution.” The historian Richard Rhodes wrote that they existed “outside the bounds of morality.”

SS officers had to prove Aryan ancestry. SS officers were also paid more than other soldiers because they were expected to have more children to pass on their elite genes in keeping with Nazi doctrine.

Related story: That Time Donald Trump’s Father Was Arrested At A KKK Rally In Queens

Helen Chernikoff is The Forward’s senior news editor. Contact her at [email protected] or follower her on Twitter @thesimplechild

Molly Boigon contributed reporting.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.