Trump White House Tour: Photo Near Hillary Clinton Painting, Pepe Frog Also Seen
President Donald Trump surprised visitors inside the White House as part of the first wave of White House visitors after it was reopened for tours. A couple of things are catching the eyes of viewers of photos and videos that are emerging from the White House tour on Tuesday, March 7.
The first thing going viral, as seen in the below photo gallery, is the fact that Mr. Trump was photographed beneath a painting of Hillary Clinton in the White House. The next thing getting some buzz, as seen in below photos and videos from Twitter, is that 10-year-old Jack Cornish allegedly flashed the “Pepe the Frog” sign with his hand as Cornish took a photo with President Trump. Instead of the famous “Pepe the Frog” hand symbol, some folks merely claim Jack was flashing an “A-Okay” hand sign.
As reported by the Associated Press, President Trump was jovial as Mr. Trump greeted a variety of visitors to the White House. The group of White House tour visitors represented the first group of people to visit the White House since Mr. Trump was inaugurated. After President Trump surprised the White House visitors when he emerged from behind a French screen, the tourists began cheering and waving. Lots of the visitors were fifth-grade students from Birmingham, Alabama’s Briarwood Christian School.
One of those was Cornish, of Birmingham. Those White House tourists hoping to catch sight of Mr. Trump got a lot more than that as the throng of visitors in the East Wing got up close with Mr. Trump — at least Jack did, when President Trump stepped near a velvet rope and welcomed him. Cornish got a hug and a pat on the shoulders from President Trump while Jack’s classmates yelled that Cornish was now famous.
“You’re famous, Jack!”
Jack is indeed now famous and perhaps getting more attention on social media than he intended after Cornish placed his index finger and thumb together and left three fingers extended while taking a photo with President Trump. As seen in the following photos, the signal is not being seen as an “A-okay” sign or some kind of “West Side” gang hand sign, but it is being recognized as the famous “Pepe the Frog” internet hand sign.
President Trump greets @WhiteHouse visitors. pic.twitter.com/RSgjSaoQ36
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 7, 2017
As reported by Mediaite, if Jack intentionally flashed the “Pepe the Frog” hand symbol, it is a troubling hand signal being associated with racism and hate groups. Although the hand signal went largely unnoticed by Mr. Trump when the photo was taken, folks on social media are wondering if there is a link to “Pepe the Sad Frog.”
Meanwhile, the White House tour got plenty of buzz on Tuesday, more than 20 years after former President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary opened the White House for tours in January of 1993 — the day after they moved in.
According to the White House tours page, White House tours are free of charge, but they could be canceled at the last minute and could take months to get approved. Certain items are prohibited, including food, recording devices, and, of course, weapons. The White House public tour route allows people to carry certain smartphones. Live streaming and texting aren’t allowed during the White House tour.
Reactions from social media about the White Hour tour controversy can be read below.
Michael Thatcher: ” People seeing secret symbology of racist frogs and Russian hackers everywhere. Poor kid is now put on par with illuminati by left-wing conspiracy theorists. Lol.”
Tom Carreiro: “Are you kidding me! Now the Orwellians are deeming this kid part of a conspiracy and lumping him in with people who they call white supremacists! This is Alex Jones crazy.”
Andy Mitchell: “Oh boy, another alleged dog whistle? Or just a stupid kid being a stupid kid? Or a smart***?”
Hoo M Doo: “So all of the NBA players are making the same symbol after shooting a 3?”
Mat Babyak:”…it’s not a ‘pepe symbol’ it’s a Trump symbol, which is just an ‘okay’ symbol.”
Crystal Barron: “Lmao!!! A racist frog…Omg this is why the loony left lost. F****** weirdos. Btw the DNC are the racists.”
Bruce Colwin: “Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.”
Frank Joseph Buypal: “Actually that’s a symbol for ok…idiots.”
[Featured Image by Evan Vucci/AP Images]
