Oh yeah, it definitely is in that sense. The point is that patriotism is hard to discern from facism. That they happened to use the same symbol here is just a good illustration of that. Ultimately, the Hitler Salute also started out as a symbol of patriotism before it all turned to genocide.
They really make it too easy to draw the parallels:
![Photograph of school kids in 1941 performing what looks like a Hitler salute, except towards a US flag.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Students_pledging_allegiance_to_the_American_flag_with_the_Bellamy_salute.jpg)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute
I mean that’s just an unfortunate coincidence given it predated the rise of naziism.
Oh yeah, it definitely is in that sense. The point is that patriotism is hard to discern from facism. That they happened to use the same symbol here is just a good illustration of that. Ultimately, the Hitler Salute also started out as a symbol of patriotism before it all turned to genocide.