President Trump runs his Twitter account in a manner that can certainly be described as, how do you say, unconventional. On any given day, he might be pushing the U.S. to the brink of war with North Korea or embarrassing the heck out of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell by publicly berating him. Yet what transpired on Wednesday morning was more outrageous than the usual Trump antics. Whoever was running the account retweeted multiple videos from a far-right, anti-Muslim group called Britain First.
Here are some screencaps for posterity, and they are ugly business. One of the (allegedly fake, but does it matter?) clips is captioned in manner of a snuff film: “Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!”
As of this writing (a few hours later), the tweets haven’t been “unretweeted” and are still visible on Trump’s Twitter account. As a result, Britain First Deputy Leader Jayda Fransen’s account was thrilled: “THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, DONALD TRUMP, HAS RETWEETED THREE OF DEPUTY LEADER JAYDA FRANSEN’S TWITTER VIDEOS! DONALD TRUMP HIMSELF HAS RETWEETED THESE VIDEOS AND HAS AROUND 44 MILLION FOLLOWERS! GOD BLESS YOU TRUMP!”
https://twitter.com/JaydaBF/status/935842051991711745
Needless to say, no one knows what on earth is going on, who retweeted these videos, and why they’re still on the page. Even Piers Morgan, who loves controversy and tosses out unsavory statements for fun, called POTUS out for promoting “a bunch of disgustingly racist far-right extremists.”
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
Others spoke out about the terrible optics of the situation.
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
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/935867055424843776
I cannot believe that the man who is essentially "in charge" of the United States of America has retweeted Britain First. Jesus Christ… is this really the world that we live in. What a dickhead.
— The Metal Tris 🤘 (@themetaltris) November 29, 2017
After tweeting #BritainFirst and promoting a racist agenda, Theresa May's government should table a motion not only condemning #donaldtrump but banning him from setting foot in Britain.
— John Smith (son of Harry Leslie Smith) (@Harryslaststand) November 29, 2017
Our President is Retweet ultra-right anti-muslim propaganda on Twitter.
This is vile.
First, he is showing the death of a child.
Second, Britain First is an ultra-right org
The woman he Retweeted, Jayda Fransen, was charged in May for causing religiously aggravated harassment pic.twitter.com/STncXejeNC
— Ted Corcoran (RedTRaccoon) (@RedTRaccoon) November 29, 2017
British MPs are (rightly) condemning Trump for promoting the racist, neo-fascist hate group Britain First. Trump's reckless racist outbursts don't just divide the country, they help turn our allies against us. This must end. https://t.co/sppBtKv0FW
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) November 29, 2017
As for Trump, he later chimed in on Matt Lauer’s firing like nothing was amiss.
Wow, Matt Lauer was just fired from NBC for “inappropriate sexual behavior in the workplace.” But when will the top executives at NBC & Comcast be fired for putting out so much Fake News. Check out Andy Lack’s past!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017
UPDATE: Following further condemnation from across the pond by British Prime Minister Theresa May (“the President is wrong to have done this”), Press Secretary Sarah Sanders defended (as relayed by CBS’ Major Garrett) Trump’s retweets in the interest of “strong border security and strong national security.”
In re @realDonaldTrump retweets of @JaydaBF videos this morning @PressSec "Whether it's a real video, the threat is real. His goal is to promote strong border security and strong national security."
— Major Garrett (@MajorCBS) November 29, 2017