If you’ve spent much time around the political world on social media, you may have noticed that some surnames mentioned in tweets or on blogs have a triple parentheses placed around them. You may have wondered what that was all about. They are called (((Echoes))).

It looks harmless, but it’s a 21st century version of the yellow Jewish star, intended to point out Jewish people on the internet by anti-Semitic trolls, many of whom are members of the alt-right. The notation functions as a clarion call for internet harassment, or, as one white nationalist called it, “closed captioning for the Jew-blind.” Unfortunately, many of those alt-right anti-Semites are rabid supporters of the Republican presumptive nominee, Donald Trump.

One Jewish writer who was on the receiving end of (((echoes))) trolling was Jonathan Weisman, deputy editor for the New York Times, who on May 26 tweeted a Washington Post story critical of Trump. He received a tweet from a poster calling himself @CyberTrump who taunted him with “Hello (((Weisman))).” When Weisman asked @CyberTrump to explain the symbol, the troll responded. “It’s a dog whistle, fool. Belling the cat for my fellow goyim.”

The parentheses symbol had its desired affect. It alerted fellow alt-right anti-Semites, who attacked Weisman relentlessly. “The anti-Semitic hate, much of it from self-identified Donald J. Trump supporters, hasn’t stopped since,” Weisman said. He also received a tweet which featured a picture of the gates of Auschwitz with its infamous slogan “Arbeit Macht Frei” replaced with “Machen Amerika Great.”

Jon Rosenberg, an anti-Trump cartoonist, received this tweet which designates his name with the (((echoes))) denotation.

Don't trigger Mr Trump (((Rosenberg)))
It might cause him to fire up the ovens#OvenWorthy https://t.co/bmlWKe6Qzh

— Circus Maximus (@CircusMaximus14) February 14, 2016

Conservative anti-Trump blogger Ben Shapiro, a practicing Orthodox Jew, has also been a recipient of alt-right venom, as he explained in a recent video.

https://youtu.be/VyaIjnQawn0

The tech blog Tech.Mic wrote that the (((Echoes))) symbol, while being embraced by today’s alt-right Trump supporters, had its origins in a 2014 podcast called “The Daily Shoah” (a take-off of the “Daily Show” — see what they did there?) from a hardcore far-right blog called the Right Stuff. In the podcast, Jewish names were denoted with a cartoonish ‘echo’ sound when spoken, since, according to the blog site, “all Jewish surnames echo throughout history” — and it doesn’t mean in a good way, either. The editors also repeated the old anti-Semitic canard about how “Jews ruin society” in their explanation of the what each parenthesis means:

The inner parenthesis represent the Jews’ subversion of the home [and] destruction of the family through mass-media degeneracy. The next [parenthesis] represents the destruction of the nation through mass immigration, and the outer [parenthesis] represents international Jewry and world Zionism.”

For their efforts in exposing the vile nature of the (((echoes))) symbol, Tech.Mic was rewarded with this charming cartoon by alt-right trolls.

Some Jewish writers have boldly co-opted the (((echoes))) designation in order to defy and mock the trolls.

General rule: Never argue with a Twitter anti-Semite who insists Jews run the world. Always agree. It's way more fun & it messes with them.

— (((Yair Rosenberg))) (@Yair_Rosenberg) June 3, 2016

I absolutely do not believe that these alt-right anti-Semite trolls constitute the majority of Donald Trump’s followers. Let me restate that, in boldface: I absolutely do not believe that these alt-right anti-Semite trolls constitute the majority of his followers. I don’t believe that Trump himself is anti-Semitic — his own beloved daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism upon her marriage to businessman Jared Kushner. However, Trump could go a long way in discouraging this kind of bigotry, which could harm not only his own campaign but the Republican party and the conservative movement. Unfortunately, it’s not likely. After all, Trump is the guy who relishes retweeting white supremacists. All they have to do is praise him.