How Pepe the Frog Became a Nazi Trump Supporter and Alt-Right Symbol

[yuiyoshida]

4chan’s Pepe the Frog meme was wildly popular among ‘normies’—until white nationalists decorated him with swastikas and gave him a Trump button.

The green frog was behind the United States side of the metal fence at the country’s southernmost border, smirking and holding a Donald Trump campaign button up to his chin.

A caricature of a Mexican couple—the man dressed in a sombrero and poncho, the woman with braided hair and an infant in her arms—looked out at him through the barricade and cried.
Then the frog was someplace else entirely, this time covered in Nazi insignia: above his smirk, the phrase “SKIN HEAD” and a swastika; over his left eyelid, “14,” the numeric shorthand for “we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children”; and over his right eyelid, “88,” which stands for “Heil Hitler.”

And there the frog was yet again, standing at a lectern stamped with the presidential seal, a red tie hanging from his green neck, Trump’s iconic hair arranged on his head and an American flag at his back.

This is Pepe, a cartoon amphibian introduced to the world sans swastikas and Trump associations in 2005, on Myspace, in the artist Matt Furie’s comic strip Boy’s Club, and popularized on 4chan in the ensuing 11 years, culminating in 2015, when teens shared Pepe’s likeness so many times he became the biggest meme on Tumblr. (Furie did not respond to an interview request from The Daily Beast.)

more.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/05/26/how-pepe-the-frog-became-a-nazi-trump-supporter-and-alt-right-symbol.html

[Laffy Kat]

1. Trump and his supporters owe all frogs an apology. nt

[rurallib]

2. thank you very much

[msongs]

3. "alt-right" is a benign sounding way to describe extremist right wingers. wish it was not used

because "alt" really means nothing to most people

[mwrguy]

4. Hillary's campaign is on top of it

https://www.hillaryclinton.com/feed/donald-trump-pepe-the-frog-and-white-supremacists-an-explainer/

Anyone who see this vile frog posted should alert on it.

[lame54]

5. What's next - the Star Wars kid?

[beaglelover]

6. That fucking frog is all over Discussionist! LOL!!

[yuiyoshida]

7. That doesn't surprise me

I am glad I haven't seen it on twitter. But, I am sure there are a few idiots waving it about like a banner.

[MowCowWhoHow III]

8. P.E.P.E. - Shadilay (Vocals Version) 1986

[Warren DeMontague]

9. I get the feeling this is more like 4chan types fucking around than making him an "actual" neo-nazi

symbol.

Not that, in the final analysis, there ends up being a whole ton of difference.

But I suspect it's like "let's associate the cartoon frog with neo-nazis!" and then they get much lulz when serious news outlets like the WaPo report on it.



The problem with something like the Trump campaign is, it's really hard to tell the people who are trying to put you on/troll you from the people who actually believe in this shit.

[Brickbat]

10. REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

[meow2u3]

11. This is the only Pepe I want to see on DU