By Dustin Rowles | Politics | November 29, 2017 |
By Dustin Rowles | Politics | November 29, 2017 |
I don’t actually follow Donald Trump on Twitter, but everything he tweets gets retweeted into my timeline dozens of times, so I woke up this morning like most of you with anti-Islamaphobic videos on my timeline, the sort you might see on your virulently racist uncle’s Facebook page. Just straight-up crazy shit. I’m not going to embed the actual tweets, but I think this will suffice:
Good morning from hell pic.twitter.com/c8LkPv5HcU
— Ashley Feinberg (@ashleyfeinberg) November 29, 2017
The videos, which have not been in any way verified, purported to show Muslims pushing a boy off a roof, a Muslim destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary, and another video claiming to show immigrants hitting a Dutch kid on crutches.
Ironically, he followed the retweets with another jab at FAKE NEWS CNN.
Those retweets were originally tweeted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the far-right group Britain First, and I mean far right. Fransen was convicted earlier this month of religiously aggravated harassment after she berated a woman wearing a hijab. Mike Cernovich would be considered a liberal member of Britain First.
Recall also that MP Jo Cox was murdered by a member of Britain First. Here’s her husband on the Trump tweets:
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.
— Brendan Cox (@MrBrendanCox) November 29, 2017
Disgraceful and tragic that a man whose wife's murder was preceded by repeated shouts of "Britain First" should have to point this out. Solidarity with the Coxes; shame upon shame for Trump https://t.co/pjT80O2EnL
— Marina Hyde (@MarinaHyde) November 29, 2017
Here’s another member of Parliament:
Trump sharing Britain First. Let that sink in. The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no ally or friend of ours. @realDonaldTrump you are not welcome in my country and my city.
— David Lammy (@DavidLammy) November 29, 2017
As Buzzfeed points out, Britain First has threatened “militant direct action” against elected Muslims, operates a “defence force”, and gives activists “self-defence training” on camping retreats.
Even Piers Morgan is like, WTF Trump? PIERS MORGAN.
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?
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) November 29, 2017
Please STOP this madness & undo your retweets.
Jayda Fransen, however, is over the moon. She and Britain First have just been validated by the President of the United States.
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! GOD BLESS AMERICA! OCS @JaydaBF @realDonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/BiQfQkTra9
— Jayda Fransen (@JaydaBF) November 29, 2017
This is bad enough that the editor at large of Infowars — the foremost right-wing conspiracy theory outfit in the States — is suggesting that this is a bad look for Trump.
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
All of this, it should be noted, comes a day after the Washington Post wrote a piece suggesting that Trump continues to spin his own reality. He is now saying that the Access Hollywood tape was not him and he is still claiming that President Obama’s birth certificate is not real.
“He creates his own reality and lives in his own reality and tries to bend reality around himself and his own deep narcissistic needs,” said Peter Wehner, a veteran of three Republican administrations and a senior fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center. “But, of course, in the end reality wins out, and trying to disfigure it or reinterpret it doesn’t work.”
There is no question that the man has lost a lot of his marbles. His narcissism and delusions of grandeur (see also: The Time magazine tweet last week) are only heightened by his position in the White House and a staff that enables him by only showing him positive stories and polls that are slightly less awful than the others. He’s off his goddamn rocker, and he’s doing more than simply stoking his base. He’s provoking them. He’s instigating a goddamn religious war.
Our President is nuts. And he’s fucking dangerous. And there are fewer and fewer people left to protect us from him.