White House intern says he wasn't making 'white power' gesture, proud of Jewish heritage

[DonViejo]

BY JOHN BOWDEN - 12/29/17 11:56 AM EST

A recent White House intern issued a statement Friday denying reports that he used a white nationalist gesture in an intern class photo with President Trump, telling The Daily Caller that he intended to mimic Trump's frequent use of the "OK" hand gesture.

A photo of White House interns with the president depicts intern Jack Breuer in the upper right making an "OK" symbol with his hand, a gesture that has been utilized by white nationalist groups due to its tendency to look like the letters "w" and "p" sandwiched together, an acronym for "white power."

Breuer, who interned at the White House this fall, issued a statement to The Daily Caller and created a Twitter account early Friday morning, on which he released a statement stating his Jewish heritage and claiming no association with white supremacist groups.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

The image was first picked up by the UK-based Daily Mail, which quoted a fellow intern who took offense to Breuer making the gesture under a portrait of George Washington.

Link to tweet

"It is a distinct symbol known in alt-right circles and what makes it worse is that he is doing it in the East Room just below the portrait of George Washington," the intern told the Daily Mail. Another intern told the Mail that Breuer is "a good kid and is probably doing it as a joke."

more
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/366785-white-house-intern-denies-using-white-power-sign-in-photo-with

[dalton99a]

1. "Breuer worked for Stephen Miller... had close ties to Richard Spencer"

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5216137/White-House-intern-flashes-white-power-sign-Trump.html

FWIW Stephen Miller is also Jewish

[underpants]

4. Yeah but does he really LOOK like a Nazi?

Yes, yes he does.

[Tipperary]

6. He does indeed. His lack of a smile seems odd too, looking at all the rest of them. eom

[delisen]

2. refers to Pres as Commander in Chief

an interesting choice of title.

"should have listened more closely to the Commander-in Chief."

[dalton99a]

3. He meant to say "Our God-Emperor"

He got caught, and he's still talking out of both sides of his mouth

[underpants]

5. That crowd is like "golf course white"

Just saying.

[gratuitous]

7. That photo . . . something about the front row

Hmmm; what is distinctive about that front row? Something there that isn't in any of the other rows.

[wellst0nev0ter]

8. This tired troll is STILL getting traction?

https://www.adl.org/blog/no-the-ok-gesture-is-not-a-hate-symbol

The “OK” hand gesture hoax originated in February 2017 when an anonymous 4channer announced “Operation O-KKK,” telling other members that “we must flood Twitter and other social media websites…claiming that the OK hand sign is a symbol of white supremacy.” The user even provided a helpful graphic showing how the letters WP (for “white power”) could be traced within an “OK” gesture. The originator and others also suggested useful hashtags to help spread the hoax, such as #PowerHandPrivilege and #NotOkay. “Leftists have dug so deep down into their lunacy,” wrote the poster, “We must force [them] to dig more, until the rest of society ain’t going anywhere near that s***.”

Following the cues of the hoax’s originator, 4channers created fake e-mail and Twitter accounts and bombarded civil rights organizations, journalists, and others with messages furthering the “OK” hoax.