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| Trump retweets British far-right leader's anti-Muslim videos | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Donald Trump has retweeted three anti-Muslim videos posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the far-right group Britain First who has been convicted of religiously aggravated harassment. | |
| Trump, who has 43.5 million followers on the network, retweeted three separate tweets by Fransen, which all included separate, unverified anti-Islamic videos. | Trump, who has 43.5 million followers on the network, retweeted three separate tweets by Fransen, which all included separate, unverified anti-Islamic videos. |
| One purported to show a group of Muslims pushing a boy off a roof. Another claimed to show a Muslim destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary and another showed immigrants hitting a Dutch boy on crutches. | One purported to show a group of Muslims pushing a boy off a roof. Another claimed to show a Muslim destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary and another showed immigrants hitting a Dutch boy on crutches. |
| The videos were retweeted without comment. Trump then turned to the more familiar territory of complaining about what he said was fake news on CNN. | |
| Earlier this month, Fransen was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment after she verbally abused a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. | Earlier this month, Fransen was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment after she verbally abused a Muslim woman wearing a hijab. |
| Fransen responded delightedly to her posts being republished by the Trump account. She wrote: “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!” | Fransen responded delightedly to her posts being republished by the Trump account. She wrote: “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!” |
| In September Fransen was charged with causing religiously aggravated harassment together with Paul Golding the leader of Britain First. | |
| “The investigation related to the distribution of leaflets in the Thanet and Canterbury areas, and the posting of online videos during a trial held at Canterbury crown court the same month,” Kent police said at the time. | |
| The Canterbury trial involved three Muslim men and a teenager who were eventually convicted of rape and jailed. | |
| Thomas Mair, the extreme rightwing terrorist, shouted “Britain first” before killing the MP Jo Cox during the EU referendum campaign last year. | |
| Cox’s widow, Brendan Cox, accused Trump of spreading hatred and trying to legitimise the far right in Britain. | |
| 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. | |
| Labour MPs including David Lammy, Stephen Doughty and Naz Shah were quick to express their outrage at Trump’s actions. | |
| 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. | |
| Shameful @POTUS @realDonaldTrump hits a new low retweeting videos from far right https://t.co/pGx9RYrT2Y | |
| No surprises there then ! Trump account retweets anti-Muslim videoshttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-42166663 | |
| Trump has long been criticised for anti-Muslim rhetoric. In December 2015, he called for a ban on Muslims entering the US. He previously suggested the creation of a government database to track Muslim Americans and made false claims that Muslims in New Jersey celebrated the terrorist attacks on 9/11. | |
| He also tweeted in 2015 about what he called the UK’s “massive Muslim problem.” | |
| Since taking office, Trump has shown more restraint in his rhetoric and boasted about his reception at a summit in Saudi Arabia. However, he has been under heavy criticism for his travel ban, which was originally directed at seven predominantly Muslim countries. Many critics viewed the policy as a backdoor attempt to implement his campaign promise of a Muslim ban. |