Trump retweets anti-Islamist tweets from far-right Britain First leader - world goes crazy in response

RT
Wed, 29 Nov 2017 18:04 UTC

© Jim Bourg / Reuters

US President Donald Trump has gone on an anti-Muslim retweeting spree, sharing three tweets originally posted by the deputy leader of far-right group Britain First Jayda Fransen. The three tweets all include violent videos of Muslims, including one where a teen is thrown off a roof and beaten to death.

Comment: Would videos of American cops beating mentally ill children be anti-American? Would videos of Israeli troops shooting Palestinian children be anti-Semitic? The only thing anti-Muslim about the tweets is that they came from Jayda Fransen.

Trump beamed out his retweeted death videos in quick succession to his 45 million followers on Wednesday morning.

Twitter users were quick to respond to the US president, labelling the retweets a "new low." Another Twitter user recommending he seek help for his "mental health issues."

Comment: More likely the individuals depicted in the videos have mental health issues, wouldn't you say?

Shortly after the string of violent tweets, Trump was back on the 'fake news' bandwagon attacking CNN.

Earlier this month, Fransen was in court over an abusive tirade launched against a Muslim woman wearing a hijab in January. The court heard that South Londoner Sumayyah Sharpe was out shopping with her four young children when she was confronted by Fransen who was brandishing a white cross.

In October, Fransen was arrested for violating her bail terms when she went on a jaunt across Europe to spread the far-right word. During the tour, Fransen appeared on a neo-Nazi radio show, immediately after a segment on Mein Kampf.

Comment: In fairness to the critics, Fransen seems a tad unhinged, to put it mildly. Britain First doesn't seem any better:

Brian Klass, an academic at the London School of Economics, wrote: "Here in the UK, Britain First is (correctly) seen as a neo-Fascist hate group. They are beyond the fringe extremists. Their leaders have been arrested and convicted for inciting hatred, including the horrible racist woman that Trump re-tweeted multiple times."

Fransen, whose group of 'Christian patriots' campaigns against multiculturalism and the "Islamization" of the UK, praised the American president's twitter activity. "God bless you Trump! God bless America!" she posted shortly after the Don shared her tweets.

The inflammatory tweets are attracting fury from the Twitterverse, with many accusing Trump of cherry picking violent videos to support his travel ban, which is more commonly called Trump's 'Muslim ban'. The initial travel ban came into effect on January 27, but was was superseded by Executive Order 13780 on March 6. Executive Order 13780 places limits on travel to the US from certain countries, and prevents entry to refugees who lack visas or valid travel documents.

Trump has called the new order a "watered down, politically correct version" of the prior Muslim ban.

"A judge has just blocked our executive order on travel and refugees coming into our country from certain countries,"Trump said in Nashville earlier this year. "The order he blocked was a watered-down version of the first order that was also blocked by another judge and should have never been blocked to start with."

Comment: London mayor Khan: "Britain first is a vile, hate-fuelled organisation whose views should be condemned, not amplified." Jeremy Corbyn: "I hope our Government will condemn far-right retweets by Donald Trump. They are abhorrent, dangerous and a threat to our society." Piers Morgan, who has been a supporter of Trump in the past, tweeted: "Good morning Mr President - what the hell are you doing retweeting a bunch of unverified videos by Britain First, a bunch of disgustingly racist far-right extremists? Please STOP this madness & undo your re-tweets." Even Paul Joseph Watson was critical:

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders "said Wednesday that she was not sure how Trump found the videos, which he retweeted from the leader of an extreme far-right British group."

Asked if the president had a responsibility to verify the content, Sanders said: "Whether it's a real video, the threat is real and that is what the president is talking about."
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The tweets drew a sharp condemnation from British Prime Minister Theresa May's office, which said it was "wrong for the president to have done this."
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President Donald Trump says in a tweet that British Prime Minister Theresa May should focus not on him but "on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom."

But this takes the cake: The guy destroying the Virgin Mary statue was an American-supported FSA militant:

Atta is wrong about one thing though: Salafists are Muslims, same as ultra-conservative Orthodox Jews are Jewish. Saying he's "not a Muslim" is like saying Stalin wasn't a communist.