The Texas GOP tweeted an image on Saturday urging people to follow the party on “free speech” social media app Gab.

The Gab platform has almost no censorship rules and is known to be used by neo-Nazis and other white supremacists. It has attracted waves of new users since the Parler app was shut down for promoting the insurrection on January 6.

The Texas GOP was condemned for the post promoting Gab and for using its slogan “We are the storm” in the tweet.

The words are virtually identical to phrases used by followers of the radical QAnon conspiracy theory, which is listed as a domestic terrorist threat by the FBI.

In QAnon terminology, “the storm” refers to the moment that Donald Trump starts arresting and executing high-profile satanic pedophiles and those working for the “deep state.”

The “storm” was meant to have taken place several times while Trump was in office, with many believing that it would happen during the inauguration of Joe Biden on January 20.

Followers of QAnon also took part in the storming of the Capitol on January 6, which left five people dead, including a police officer.

The “We are the storm” slogan has been used by the Texas GOP since August, when it originally caused outrage. The New York Times called its use an “unusually visible example of the Republican Party’s dalliance” with QAnon.

The Texas GOP has denied any connection to QAnon and says the slogan comes from a favorite poem of party chairman Allen West. The poem, whose author is not known, includes the line: “The devil whispered in my ear, ‘You’re not strong enough to withstand the storm.’ Today I whispered in the devil’s ear, ‘I am the storm.’”

West has previously quoted the line in public and recited it on the campaign trial in July 2020.

A number of people have criticized the party for continuing to use the phrase despite its widespread association with the conspiracy theory.

Writer Grace Spelman tweeted: “Sorry just can’t get over an official GOP account using a slogan directly lifted from a group the FBI labeled a domestic terrorist threat in 2019.”

Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, wrote: “Texas GOP has incorporated QAnon “storm” b******t into its branding. We’re watching the party devolve in real time as the lesson they apparently learned from their presidential election loss is ‘be crazier.’”

Attorney Roger Tansey added: “You’re the storm? As in, ‘storm the Capitol’ and kill a cop kind of storm?”

“The Texas Republican Party is now openly incorporating a QAnon slogan — ‘we are the storm’ into its official publicity materials,” tweeted political reporter Blake Hounshell.

In a statement to Newsweek, the Texas GOP said: “How many times do we have to answer this question? The Texas GOP slogan is drawn from scripture as cited in early interviews, which you are aware of. Chairman West does not need to condemn a movement he was never a part of.”

The party then accused Democratic lawmakers such as Nancy Pelosi, Cori Bush and Maxine Waters of also using “language that led to violence”, in an apparent reference to Black Lives Matter protests.

“Not to mention the thousands of small businesses, aka livelihoods, that were burned to the ground as members of the press applauded and justified the violence by framing rioting as ‘a voice of the unheard’ or ‘where does it say protests have to be peaceful?’

“It has never been more apparent that the vast majority of the corporate press are not well-meaning referees, but simple partisan hacks.

“The people of this country have not forgotten the national destruction that fell upon cities across America, even if the press would like us to remember it with rose-colored glasses.”

Over the weekend, the Hawaii Republican Party defended QAnon believers as people who are “largely motivated by a sincere and deep love for America,” in a series of tweets that were later deleted.

“People who followed Q don’t deserve mockery,” the Hawaii GOP tweeted. “People want hope.”

This article has been updated with a comment from the Texas GOP.