Global Engagement (formerly known as Think Again, Turn Away) is the State Department’s anti-terrorism communications division specializing in social media messaging to dissuade would-be terrorists from joining ISIS or similar groups. Tuesday, the Global Engagement Twitter account tweeted a link to a Time Magazine article accompanied by the text “London’s first Muslim Mayor: It’s really important that I use my experiences to defeat radicalization & extremism.”
While the Time interview with the mayor covers the larger issue of combating religious extremism, the article is actually titled, “Exclusive: London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Religious Extremism, Brexit and Donald Trump.” The subtitle is, “If Donald Trump becomes the President, I’ll be stopped from going there by virtue of my faith.”
As seen in the image above, the tweet itself mentions Trump twice — the article itself references the presumptive GOP nominee nine times. (The article was updated after its initial publication to note Trump’s apparent willingness to make the London mayor an exception to his proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States.)
Generally speaking, the State Department avoids involvement in electoral politics, so the tweet and link to an article featuring a major candidate seem unusual.
When asked to comment on the tweet, the State Department’s Nicole Thompson replied, “The crux of the tweet you referenced is Mayor Khan’s commitment to defeating extremism and radicalism. The Department of State takes no position on domestic political competitions.”
