In late August 2024, several pro-Donald Trump and pro-Russia social media accounts began sharing the claim that Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris' campaign had adopted the campaign slogan "Strength Through Joy." If true, this would be a controversy because "Strength Through Joy" was a Nazi slogan.
However, Harris had not adopted this slogan. The video evidence shared alongside these claims did not once show the U.S. vice president, or anyone associated with her, using the motto.
The talking point appears to have originated, at least in part, with video compilations of Harris, her running mate Tim Walz and media figures using the word "joy" in association with her campaign.
Some of Trump's supporters saw the use of the word "joy" and drew a connection to Nazi Germany. Among them was actor and pro-Trump figure Robert Davi. On Aug. 16, 2024, he shared a video on Instagram claiming that "strength through joy" was a slogan adopted by the Harris campaign.
Davi did not respond to Snopes' request for comment on Instagram about where he heard this information. A post on X resharing Davi's video, however, garnered more than 100,000 views at the time of this reporting:
Another account on X — associated with the apocalyptic Christian conspiracy-theory website Now the End Begins — shared the same claim. In this case, just like the videos mentioned above, the purported evidence of Harris using the motto amounted to a series of headlines containing the words "joy" and "joyful":
No reasonable person disputes that "Strength Through Joy" was a Nazi Party slogan. It was the motto of the German Labor Front — a Nazi organization that replaced labor unions during the Third Reich.
However, outside of the shared use of the common term "joy," the motto has no connection to the Harris campaign whatsoever.
Because the Nazi Party does not have any claim to the word "joy," and because neither the Democratic Party nor the Harris campaign is using the motto "Strength Through Joy," the claim is "False."
As Snopes has previously reported, two of Trump's former campaign refrains have drawn criticism for their connection to either the Ku Klux Klan or Nazi Germany.