Well, it’s not like it’s a surprise at this point, but it’s not particularly edifying either. Donald Trump used his precious time as President of the United States of America to hop on his phone and retweet a few viciously anti-Muslim videos from a British far-right group which has been accused of harbouring fascist tendencies.
Trump retweeted the videos from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the extreme-right group Britain First, which is known for their militaristic organisation and tactics and vitriolic hatred for Muslims in the UK. The videos themselves are completely unverified, and they come with titles like “VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!”, “VIDEO: Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!” and “VIDEO: Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!”
Here’s a still from one of them:
So you get the general vibe. Even some of Trump’s supporters online found this one a little hard to swallow – including Paul Watson of right-wing conspiracy megaplatform Infowars, who is not a big fan of immigrants himself:
Yeah, someone might want to tell whoever is running Trump’s Twitter account this morning that retweeting Britain First is not great optics. 🤔
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 29, 2017
Even moron contrarian Piers Morgan, who has defended Trump over and over as part of a longterm strategy to get people to angrily click on his columns, was not impressed.
Good morning, Mr President @realDonaldTrump – 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.— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 29, 2017
A spokesperson for UK prime minister Theresa May condemned Trump’s retweets. “It is wrong for the President to have done this,” the spokesperson said.
Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions. They cause anxiety to law-abiding people. British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far right which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents – decency , tolerance and respect.
They also confirmed that his upcoming trip to the UK is not in jeopardy over this. “The United States is one of our oldest and closest allies. An invitation for a state visit has been extended and accepted. Further details will announced in due course.”
Sarah Huckabee Sanders, Trump’s press secretary, made no apologies for his tweets. “Whether it’s a real video, the threat is real. His goal is to promote strong border security and strong national security.” Okay, cool.
We live in times that are simultaneously very dark and incredibly stupid. If you’re a Trump supporter or even someone who thinks he might have a positive effect via his populism, you might want to consider whether endorsing a group packed to the brim with fascists and Nazi-adjacent individuals is something you want to support.
