Trump believes Garcia *literally* has MS-13 tattooed on his knuckles

[NewtonMP2100]

….don’t think Trump can spell MS13……

[$tevie]

NewtonMP2100 wrote:
….don’t think Trump can spell MS13……

That was a weird stumble as he attempted to say it.

[Tiangou]

In his defense, this is no more stupid than when he thought he could change the course of a hurricane using a Sharpie on a big map.

...And he still got re-elected.

...I mean... really... Did people think he got smarter in the last 4 years? More rational? Learned that a trade-deficit is actually an indicator of a healthy economy and prosperous population?

[N-OS X-tasy!]

RAMd®d wrote:
It's obvious looking at the pic the M S 1 and 3 do not conform to the shape of the hand.

I suppose no one has explained how the translation of those tats translated to MS-13.

In the photo, the word “Marijuana” (M) appears below the tattoo of marijuana and the word “Smile” (S) appears below the tattoo of the smiley face.

The word “Cross” appears below the tattoo of the cross. As the cross is the symbol for Christ, who is considered to be the one true savior by Catholics (and this man was certainly raised as a Catholic), the cross could be interpreted to mean (1).

That leaves the interpretation of the skull. If there is a way to interpret the skull to mean (3), taken as a whole the tattoos could certainly mean “MS-13”. There is absolutely no way that they literally spell it out, though.

(The word tattooed under the skull appears to begin with a “C”, which is the third letter of the alphabet. That could be how this is meant to symbolize (3).)

[$tevie]

Those little words aren't tattooed on there. They are superimposed just like the M S 1 3.

If they were actually tattooed on there they would probably read Marijuana, Sonrisa, Cruz, and Cráneo, or whatever the Spanish words are (I used Google).

[GGD]

I think that whenever the democrats get the opportunity to publicly question a cabinet member or nominee they should show them that photo and ask them if they believe that those superimposed printed labels actually exist on the subject's body. That should induce a huge amount of squirming, similar to asking who won the 2020 election.

[RAMd®d]

It's a stretch is what it is.

LOL!

[pdq]

N-OS X-tasy! wrote:
[quote=RAMd®d]
It's obvious looking at the pic the M S 1 and 3 do not conform to the shape of the hand.

I suppose no one has explained how the translation of those tats translated to MS-13.

In the photo, the word “Marijuana” (M) appears below the tattoo of marijuana and the word “Smile” (S) appears below the tattoo of the smiley face.

The word “Cross” appears below the tattoo of the cross. As the cross is the symbol for Christ, who is considered to be the one true savior by Catholics (and this man was certainly raised as a Catholic), the cross could be interpreted to mean (1).

That leaves the interpretation of the skull. If there is a way to interpret the skull to mean (3), taken as a whole the tattoos could certainly mean “MS-13”. There is absolutely no way that they literally spell it out, though.

(The word tattooed under the skull appears to begin with a “C”, which is the third letter of the alphabet. That could be how this is meant to symbolize (3).)
I don’t think the words “tattooed under the skull” or the other symbols are actually tattooed - if you look closely (like by zooming in on the right image in the OP), I think it’s pretty obvious they are (english) labels “photoshopped” on later, like the “MS-13”.

Garcia is Salvadorean. Why would he have english words tattooed (in tiny font) below the labels? En espanol, “smiley face” is cara sonriente. “Happy face” is cara de felicidad. Skull is craneo. Cross is not “1”.

This is a strained stretch of an interpretation, and most experts in gang signs I’ve seen offer their opinion online the past few days say they’ve never seen this as a signature of gang membership. In fact, they say most actual members (or people who consider themselves so) would look down on this or consider it cowardly; they prefer a more in-your-face, obvious statement of MS-13 (which, again, is en espanol - “Mara Salvatrucha”) - the idea that they would use the english words of symbols to code for it stretches credulity.

Edit: Yeah, the text below the symbols is added/photoshopped. Here is another photo of Garcia:



The WaPo continues:

…several law enforcement officials and researchers who study the transnational gang say the tattoos on Abrego García’s left hand — a marijuana leaf, a smiley face, a cross and a skull — do not show definitive evidence of any gang affiliation.

“A tattoo alone, with nothing more, cannot be the single basis to opine someone is a gang member,” said John Colello, who oversees the homicide division for the district attorney’s office in Los Angeles County, where MS-13 got its start during the 1980s.

… Law enforcement officials interviewed by The Washington Post said that some of the figures on Abrego García’s hand have been seen on gang members before, particularly the marijuana leaf, though that symbol is also widely popular among those not affiliated with a gang. One official has seen some of those symbols in a similar configuration, but none have seen the exact same four symbols solely in that configuration spelling out “MS-13.”

… Roberto Lovato, author of the book “Unforgetting: A Memoir of Family, Migration, Gangs, and Revolution in the Americas,“ hadn’t seen that configuration and when he contacted current and former gang members to ask if they had, they all said no.

Bottom line - this is a real stretch; Garcia fled to the US to avoid gangs; he has no criminal record in his 10+ years here; and most important of all, there was zero due process in deporting him where the courts said specifically he could not be deported.

[N-OS X-tasy!]

Yeah, $tevie pointed that out about the words not being tattooed. The photo in the original is sufficiently lo-rez that it was difficult to make that distinction.

[$tevie]

I'd like to know when he got those tattoos. Because I find it plausible that he could have been a gang member back home, wanted to get out, was threatened as a result, and fled to the U.S. If popular culture is any indication, gangs don't like it when members try to quit.

Yes, I realize these are most likely not gang tattoos -- but even if they were, there's a good chance it would be irrelevant at this point.