Trump makes alleged 'white power' hand signal while talking about AOC

While referring to Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a speech on Tuesday, Donald Trump made a distinctive hand gesture, and people online are debating its meaning.

A video of the moment was captured by journalist Aaron Ruper, and shared to Twitter, alongside the caption:

Trump makes a hand gesture while saying AOC's name

The hand gesture - featuring the thumb and index finger touching while the other fingers on the hand are outstretched - is traditionally a symbol for 'Okay', however, in 2017, it took on a new significance after it was co-opted by a 4chan hoax, claiming that the gesture represented the letters for "wp", or "white power".

Mr Trump was delivering a speech on Tuesday to Turning Point USA's Teen Student Action Summit 2019, in downtown Washington, the D.C Marriott. During his speech, Trump predictably lashed out at Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Rashida Tlaib.

Marien Le Pen made the same gesture while posing for a selfie with the far-right Estonian lawmaker Ruuben Kaalep and was forced to disavow it later. Speaking afterwards, she said:

It isn’t a white supremacist gesture, it’s a gesture that means ‘O.K.'

After making the gesture, Trump went on to criticise Tlaib, saying she's a "vicious crazed lunatic", adding:

She’s screaming – who elected her? She's screaming like a total lunatic.

After the video was shared to social media, many people had thoughts.

HT Rolling Stone

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