By Doug Porter / Words & Deeds
Congressman Duncan Hunter’s relationship with a self proclaimed white supremacist made headlines following disclosure of a photograph taken at a July Fourth parade of the congressman standing beside Kris Wyrick, who flashed an “OK” gesture — a sign appropriated by extremists in recent years to mean “WP” or “white power.”
The photo was deleted from Hunter’s Facebook page following media inquiries.
Duncan Hunter, on left, with Kris Wyrick, flashing an “OK” gesture — to mean “WP” or “white power.”
A cover story about the relationship between the two men characterized the event as simply a constituent posing for a photo. Then a 2017 video emerged with Wyrick saying “I know him personally. And I know his family personally. And he’s a great man.”
From Roll Call:
- Scrutiny of possible ties between Hunter, one of the first members of Congress to endorse President Donald Trump, and Wyrick comes amid fears the GOP will foment racial divisions to turn out its base in the 2020 elections.
- Hunter, who faces trial next month on campaign corruption charges, used inflammatory ads and mailers to smear his 2018 Democratic opponent as a terrorist sympathizer. He’s continued with the same rhetoric this cycle, with the same opponent seeking a rematch, and Democrats have denounced the attacks as racist.
- And that isn’t surprising given that those xenophobic appeals played a “vital role” in Hunter’s narrow win in his deep-red district last year, according to Carlos Algara, a political scientist at the University of California, Davis, who studies how white racial resentment shapes the Republican electoral coalition.
- “Our research suggests that Hunter is laying the groundwork in a campaign filled with blatant appeals at mobilizing whites with high degrees of racial resentment to rescue his bid,” Algara said in an email.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m no fan of Duncan Hunt by any stretch so color me out of touch, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen that the OK sign is a symbol of white power. Is this recent?
Hunter.
Alt right teenagers are constantly trying to plant fake news in the mainstream media. The OK hand gesture as racist is one of them. That was a few years ago.
This “trolling” operation was such a success, that it took up a life of its own, and now it really is an alt-right symbol because the media reported the false story so extensively. So a combination of racists and crappy corporate media that doesn’t fact check has ruined a common hand gesture.
It’s a VERY common thing on the internet these days, originating (like most shit on the internet) from imageboards such as 4chan and 8chan. It is meant as a dog whistle and is actively used by people in the alt right so they can have Plausible Deniablity. Ie if they threw a nazi salute they’d get found out but if they co-opt something as innocuous as the ok gesture than it’ll seem waaaaay more far fetched. It’s meant as a way to disguise their true intentions I can link links to 4chan threads about this if anyone needs proof that the alt right actively knows what they are doing and trying to subvert expectations of what fascism looks like
I believe you. I just never heard of this before. Then again, I ever heard of 4chan before this thread. I googled and how I realize I am far more out of touch than I realized.
A judge refused to dismiss federal corruption charges against U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter.
Duncan Hunter and his wife were indicted a year ago after authorities said they used more than $250,000 in campaign funds for personal expenses ranging from groceries to golf trips and family vacations.
Republican Congressman Duncan Hunter blamed his wife after he was charged with misusing federal campaign funds for personal use. On June 13, 2019, she struck back.
Margaret Hunter, 44, pleaded guilty in San Diego federal court to conspiracy and agreed to “provide substantial assistance” to prosecutors in the investigation of her husband.