Nazi Salutes At An ‘Alt-Right’ Dinner Lead To A $10,000 Donation

You may or may not remember Tila Tequila, who had a flash-in-the-pan stint on a reality show and has since become an outspoken Nazi apologist. Though Tequila was the catalyst for this story, the true story here is much more sinister.

‘Sieg Heil!’ – Nazi Salutes At The ‘Alt-Right’ Dinner

This weekend, the National Policy Insitute, led by white supremacist Richard Spencer, held a conference in Washington, D.C. — their first since the election. As part of the kick-off, conference attendees had dinner together at a Maggiano’s Little Italy restaurant in the Friendship Heights part of town.

In attendance at both the conference and the dinner was the aforementioned Tila Tequila, who tweeted the following picture to her 69,000 followers:

conference
via screenshot from WashingtonCityPaper

Twitter suspended Tequila’s account late Sunday night.

The so-called “alt-right,” which is a euphemism for the neo-Nazi movement, is in the forefront of the news lately. Their members and leaders have celebrated the election of President-elect Donald Trump. Even worse, Trump named a leader in their movement, Steve Bannon, as his Chief Strategist.

Calls for Bannon’s firing immediately followed the announcement and continue to this day.

Bannon once referred to the website he ran, BreitbartNews, as “a platform for the alt-right.” The man who coined the term “alt-right,” Richard Spencer, did not even attempt to hide his Nazi tendencies at the conference.

According to the New York Times:

“He railed against Jews and, with a smile, quoted Nazi propaganda in the original German. America, he said, belonged to white people, whom he called the ‘children of the sun,’ a race of conquerors and creators who had been marginalized but now, in the era of President-elect Donald J. Trump, were ‘awakening to their own identity.’

As he finished, several audience members had their arms outstretched in a Nazi salute. When Mr. Spencer, or perhaps another person standing near him at the front of the room — it was not clear who — shouted, ‘Heil the people! Heil victory,’ the room shouted it back.”

They’re not even hiding it anymore, folks.

Maggiano’s Apologizes, Gives $10,000 to ADL

Maggiano’s restaurant, which hosted the dinner, claims they did not know who they were hosting that evening. Once word got out, they issued the following apology, including their pledge to donate their profits from Friday to the Anti-Defamation League:

Watch parts of Spencer’s speech here, with the Nazi salutes and all:

Featured Image via Twitter

Carrie is a progressive mom and wife living in the upper Midwest.