Trump DHS Accused of Cryptically Including White Supremacist Slogan in Tweet

The Department of Homeland Security logo is seen during a news conference in Washington, Feb. 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

Some social media users believe that the Department of Homeland Security published a tweet referencing a white supremacist slogan.

On Wednesday evening, DHS’s official X/Twitter account posted the painting “American Progress” by the Prussian-born artist John Gast. Included in the tweet was the caption, “A Heritage to be proud of, a Homeland worth Defending,” along with the name of the painting and the artist’s name.

More than a few X users pointed out two key details they deemed noteworthy: the tweet contains exactly 14 letters and the letter h is capitalized twice in the words “Heritage” and “Homeland.” Also of note was the painting itself, which depicts Native Americans fleeing from settlers as they move west — a symbol of America’s westward expansion.

Critics of the DHS tweet suggested that it referenced “1488.” As noted by the Anti-Defamation League, 1488 is a combination of two white supremacist numerical symbols. The first symbol, 14, references the number of words in the slogan, “We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children.” The slogan was first coined by David Lane, a member of the neo-Nazi terrorist group The Order in the mid-1980s.

The second symbol, 88, translates to “HH” as the letter h is the eighth letter of the alphabet. “HH” stands for “Heil Hitler.”