TOPLINE
President Donald Trump retweeted a video Sunday morning that featured images of a white man driving a golf cart adorned with Trump campaign posters and flags shouting “white power,” before removing the tweet about four hours ago. after.
WASHINGTON, DC – JUNE 23: United States President Donald Trump speaks to journalists before boarding Marine One … [+]
KEY FACTS
The video, which was initially released on Saturday afternoon, shows that Trump supporters and anti-Trump protesters engage in hectic verbal encounters, including profanity.
The video was reportedly filmed at The Villages, a retirement community located in central Florida.
At the beginning of the clip, protesters sing “racist” to an unidentified man and woman riding in a golf cart decorated with signs saying “Trump 2020” and “America First.”
The man who was driving the car then slows down to address the protesters and twice shouts “white power” and raises his fist.
The president quoted the video on Twitter and wrote: “Thanks to the great folks at The Villages. The radical left does nothing. Democrats will fall in the fall. Corrupt Joe is killed.”
When asked about the president’s tweet on Sunday morning, Republican Senator Tim Scott said, “There is no question that you shouldn’t have retweeted it, and should simply override it … It’s indefensible.”
About four hours after he posted it, amid an immediate reaction, Trump deleted the tweet.
The White House did not apologize for the tweet, saying: “President Trump is a huge admirer of The Villages. He did not hear the only statement made in the video.”
Key Background:
In the past five weeks, following the May 25 murder of George Floyd in police custody, Trump has been accused of stoking racial tensions as countless protests have been carried out against systemic racism across the United States. According to a new report from the US State Department, racial and ethnic terrorism, particularly by white supremacists, “is on the rise and is spreading geographically.” Late last month, Trump appeared to threaten violence against protesters (whom Trump called “HITS”) in Minneapolis after Floyd’s death, tweeting: “When the looting begins, the shooting begins.” In early June, Trump declared that his administration “will not even consider changing the name” of army bases named after Confederate generals. Two weeks ago, the FBI announced that a U.S. Air Force sergeant who allegedly murdered law enforcement officers in California during the June protests was associated with the right-wing Boogaloo movement, which has ties to neo-Nazi and white supremacists. . Last week, an intelligence assessment warned that the Boogaloo movement could seek to “incite civil unrest or lead the encouraged violence in online forums.”
Critical quote:
“I have not seen that video or that tweet, but obviously neither the President, his administration nor I would do anything to support white supremacy or anything that supports discrimination of any kind,” Alex Azar, United States Secretary of Health. and Human Services, he told CNN on Sunday morning.
Tangent:
In 2017, a Unite the Right rally was organized by white supremacists in Charlottesville, Virginia, protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate Robert E. Lee. In the violent race-fueled riots that followed, Trump faced widespread criticism after saying there was “fault on both sides” and that there were “very good people on both sides.” This sparked bipartisan outrage, as many Republicans and Democrats viewed the President’s words as equating the actions of white nationalists and Nazi sympathizers with those of counter-protesters. In April 2019, Trump defended his initial comments, saying: “If you look at what I said, you will see that question was perfectly answered.”
Further reading:
Murderer accused of California police was associated with the right-wing ‘Boogaloo Movement’ (Forbes)
White supremacist terrorism ‘on the rise and spread’ (Forbes)
Trump thanks the ‘great people’ shown in a Twitter video in which a man sings ‘white power’ (CNN)
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