You would think there’s nothing new to be shocked over when it comes to Donald Trump’s presidency, but on Wednesday, he outdid himself.
On Twitter, President Trump retweeted three videos posted by Jayda Fransen, deputy leader of the far-right group Britain First, depicting Muslims in the U.K. and presumably elsewhere murdering a teenage boy, assaulting another on crutches, and destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary.
These videos objectively are disturbing to watch as they not only display the worst characteristics of presumed Muslims, but also that the president of the United States is spreading information that hasn’t been verified. There’s no way of knowing that these perpetrators are Muslim.
If these videos were verified, then you can make the case that Trump simply wants to protect Americans from extremist Muslims who are migrating into western countries and harming people for no other reason than their own internal bigotry. However, that’s not the case here. Britain First, the organization that posted these videos, has in the past posted videos calling former President Barack Obama a Muslim, which he, of course, is not.
There’s a clear agenda by Britain First to make the U.K. Muslim-free, and Trump’s retweets are, if anything, a stamp of approval to make the United States Muslim-free as well.
When Trump was elected, he preached a message of “coming together” and “unity.” However, in 2017, his handling of the Charlottesville, Va., white supremacy rally in August and co-signing anti-Muslim propaganda through these retweets have shown repeatedly that he has no interest in uniting Americans.
With these context-free retweets, Trump is sending a message that Muslims are violent and anti-Christian. Imagine an American liberal picking videos of the Westboro Baptist Church protesting a U.S. soldier’s funeral, or a story of a priest convicted of raping a child and held them out as typical Christians. That’s the equivalent of what Trump is doing.
It’s insulting to the 1.6 billion Muslims who don’t exemplify the worst traits of humanity. It’s disgraceful that the leader of the free world is spreading propaganda to serve himself and stoke his base. And finally, it’s dangerous not only to Muslims who might face violent backlash in the wake of these videos, but also people, in general, who use these videos as a reason to keep religious extremism alive and well in this world.
Shame on President Trump.
