President Trump retweeted three incendiary videos from a fringe far-right British activist, called for a boycott of CNN, floated the firing of NBC executives for propagating “fake news,” and suggested an investigation into the 2001 death of an aide to then-Rep. Joe Scarborough: a matter the far left has exploited on the web for conspiracy theories in the years since.
The tweets were sent within the span of a couple of hours on Wednesday morning, on the heels of a New York Times story that reported the president “has continued to suggest” an Access Hollywood tape in which he bragged about grabbing women’s genitals is inauthentic, has kept questioning President Obama’s birth certificate, and has “repeatedly” claimed voter fraud was the reason he lost the popular vote in the 2016 election.
The three retweeted videos were shared first by Jayda Fransen of Britain First, an offshoot of the far-right and anti-Islam British Nationalist Party. The first showed an alleged “Muslim migrant” beating a white male on crutches, the second showed a bearded man wearing a gray thawb (an ankle length garment popular among Arab men) smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary, and the third claimed to show an “Islamist mob” pushing a teenager off a rooftop. Trump did not add any commentary.
Trump then said “we should boycott Fake News CNN,” after his press secretary, Sarah Sanders, shared news that the network would boycott the White House Christmas party. “Christmas comes early!” Sanders tweeted.
Great, and we should boycott Fake News CNN. Dealing with them is a total waste of time! https://t.co/8zJ3j7g5el
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2017
After tweeting about the stock market, the president picked up on news that NBC had fired Today host Matt Lauer over a sexual misconduct complaint.
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
Freelancer Yashar Ali then reported on Twitter that Lack told staff Wednesday morning he had “nothing to tell, nothing to hide,” with respect to Trump’s tweet. NBC was criticized for passing on Ronan Farrow’s recent reporting on Harvey Weinstein, which subsequently appeared in the New Yorker.
Trump continued to tweet about NBC, next singling out Phil Griffin, MSNBC’s president. “And will they terminate low ratings Joe Scarborough based on the ‘unsolved mystery’ that took place in Florida years ago? Investigate!”
The allusion unmistakably is to the 2001 death of a former staffer of Scarborough’s when he was a congressman, Lori Klausutis, who was 28.
The Miami Herald reported then:
Conspiracy theorists on the far left did not accept the explanation. The Markos Moulitsas-founded Daily Kos has been on the beat for years, for example. But the matter has lived below the surface on the right, as well: Former U.S. Senate candidate and Florida attorney general Katherine Harris suggested to donors that Scarborough would have to answer questions about Klausutis’s death were he to announce a Senate run, then Miami Herald reporter Mark Caputo wrote in 2006. Earlier this year, Mike Cernovich tweeted a Reddit thread about Klausutis. Any allegations of foul play or a cover-up have been baseless.
Trump’s media antagonism Wednesday—particularly with NBC and CNN—was par for the course. But his legitimizing Britain First and Jayda Fransen is another matter. As Max Boot wrote:
This is not normal, folks. This is simply appalling. The president of the US is promoting anti-Muslim bigotry in league with an avowed fascist and racist. https://t.co/a4WXcgvw5Q
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) November 29, 2017
BuzzFeed’s UK political editor characterized Britain First as a “stunt-loving anti-Muslim far-right social media troll group increasingly ignored even in the UK.” Fransen embodies it in public appearances and videos. She was arrested two weekends ago in London by Northern Irish police and charged with using “threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour” stemming from a speech in Belfast in August.
