Fury as Trump fan appears to flash ‘white power’ hand gesture behind president at Florida rally
A MAN at Donald Trump’s Friday rally has been accused of making a white power sign directly behind the president.
The symbol – the “OK” sign that’s become a symbol of white nationalism – was displayed by a man standing directly behind Trump.
The gesture includes a thumb and forefinger touched in a circle and the other fingers outstretched.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) says the gesture has become a signal for white supremacy.
The man was first seen making the symbol at the beginning of the rally as Trump spoke.
He wore a hat with what appeared to be an insignia from the Proud Boys – a far-right group that Trump previously told to “stand back and stand down” when asked to condemn white supremacy at a debate.
He was later seen holding it up again after Trump spoke about coronavirus in the United States, and at other various times as the president spoke.
The man held up the gesture at least five times throughout the rally.
Some people say the gesture is simply just the “circle game” that’s popular with kids – where someone flashes an upside-down OK sign.
The game includes someone flashing an upside-down OK sign below their waist and punches the shoulder of anyone who looks at it.
But now, the ADL says, the white supremacist use of the finger symbol started as a hoax perpetuated on the online message board 4chan.
The original idea was to take an innocent and common gesture and transform it into something that would make liberals angry.
That online campaign was so successful that the the gesture came to be used semi-sincerely by Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen, and other white nationalists to signal sympathizers in public places.
The gesture from the man at the rally incited anger from some.
“I’m old enough to remember when @realDonaldTrump rallies just had stuff like white folk holding up ‘Blacks For Trump’ signs, now it’s dudes doing White Power signs,” one user tweeted.
“White power guy is still on the stage,” another user tweeted. “WP supports Trump. Trump supports WP,” they claimed.
Another user sarcastically said: “nice white power symbol a**hole!”
Sharing a clip of the man holding up the sign, one user claimed: “Trump has his White Power buddies hanging around.”
“The assumption that a campaign worker would stop people from throwing up the white power sign at a Trump rally is based on the faulty premise that the Trump campaign thinks racism is bad for their campaign,” another user said.
At the first presidential debate, Trump refused to denounce white supremacists and asked the far-right group the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by.”
Days later, Trump said: “I condemn the KKK, I condemn all White supremacists, I condemn the Proud Boys.”
“I don’t know much about the Proud Boys, almost nothing, but I condemn that.”
At their final debate on Thursday, Biden called Trump “one of the most racist presidents we’ve had in modern history.”
“He pours fuel on every single racist fire.”
Biden said Trump “is a dog whistle about as big as a foghorn.”
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