Donald Trump has had a busy past 24 hours on Twitter, gleefully commenting on the firing of Today Show host Matt Lauer and CNN’s decision to skip the White House Christmas party, but it’s a trio of early morning retweets that are capturing some people’s eye.
Late Tuesday and early Wednesday, Trump re-tweeted three inflamatory videos from the deputy leader of Britain First, an ultranationalist UK group that has regularly been accused of religious harassment.
The videos, including one which seems to show a boy being pushed off of a roof, are disturbing and Trump offered no context for them, beyond the comments of Jayda Fransen, who was convicted of religiously aggravated harrassment in 2016 after making abusive comments towards a woman wearing a hijab.
Britain First, meanwhile, has been linked to the killing of Labour MP Jo Cox last year as the killer repeatedly shouted “Britain First” while shooting and stabbing her. (The group denies any involvement in the crime.)
Trump’s seeming endorsement of the videos has sparked yet another backlash against the White House, including British members 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
https://twitter.com/MuslimIQ/status/935841442341310465
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
It’s hardly the first time Trump has found himself under fire for retweeting. In September, he shared an edited GIF depicting himself striking Hillary Clinton in the back with a golf ball. And in July, he posted a video to his account that showed him punching a physical representation of CNN in the face. It later emerged that the Reddit user who took credit for developing the CNN video had a history of making anti-semitic and anti-Islamic memes, and retroactively issued an apology for creating them.
