Donald Trump retweeted anti-Muslim videos from a British ultranationalist figurehead – and U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May condemned the move.
The tweets originally were posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the far-right group Britain First. Last year, she was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment of a Muslim woman. The first of three videos retweeted showed a young man beating up a another young man on crutches until he falls to the ground. Fransen’s text says the aggressor is Muslim, but there is nothing in the video to indicate this is true.
In fact, the official account of the Dutch Embassy in the United States tweeted in response to the video, explaining the situation. “@realDonaldTrump Facts do matter. The perpetrator of the violent act in this video was born and raised in the Netherlands. He received and completed his sentence under Dutch law,” it wrote.
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The second video features a bearded man destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary, and the third shows a group of men attacking another group. All of the attackers in the videos are said to be Muslim.
“It is wrong for the president to have done this,” says a spokesperson for May, adding that Britain First uses “hate-filled narratives to peddle lies and stoke tensions.” British Parliament member Jo Cox was shot, stabbed, and killed by a member of Britain First, who shouted “Britain First!” as he committed his crime. Cox’s widower Brendan Cox accused Trump of legitimizing the far right in the UK. “Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours. Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself,” he tweeted.
Even Piers Morgan was shocked by Trump’s retweets. “What the hell are you doing retweeting a bunch of unverified videos by Britain First, a bunch of disgustingly racist far-right extremists? Please STOP this madness & undo your retweets,” he wrote.
“You have now effectively told all the world’s bigots, racists, Islamophobes and white supremacists that you’re with them, that they’re YOUR kind of people,” Morgan added in a separate statement. “This isn’t just shameful, Mr Trump, this is the worst thing you have done as President… If you don’t [delete the tweets], we will be left to assume that you too are a hateful Islamophobe and racist. Are you, Mr President?”
Many other personalities were appalled by Trump’s tweets. As of this writing, the retweeted videos are still posted to Trump’s personal Twitter page.
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