Trump spends weekend melting down about his favorite white supremacists
He whined about the Kentucky Derby, too.
Trump did a lot of tweeting this weekend, including retweeting conspiracy theorists and white supremacists — and whining about the Kentucky Derby.
Trump’s weekend enthusiasm for white supremacists and conspiracy theorists had its origin in Facebook’s finally kicking a fistful of anti-Semites and conspiracy theorists off its platform, including Milo Yiannopolous, Paul Joseph Watson, and Laura Loomer. Facebook also tossed Alex Jones and InfoWars off of Instagram, a platform Facebook owns.
Trump started his Friday night tweetstorm by saying that he was “continuing to monitor the censorship of AMERICAN CITIZENS on social media platforms” and that “we have what’s known as FREEDOM OF SPEECH!”
We do have freedom of speech, but that doesn’t apply to private companies like Facebook or Twitter. Social media platforms are free to ban whomever they choose. Additionally, in an age where Trump’s rhetoric leads to rising hate crimes, including synagogue shootings, banning anti-Semitic accounts that encourage violence is an absolute necessity and public service.
Trump went on to lament that conservative Fox host Diamond and Silk were “treated so horribly by Facebook” and that “conservative thinkers” like washed-up actor James Woods were banned from Twitter.
Then things took a darker turn.
First, Trump retweeted Watson, who was complaining about “giving a handful of giant partisan corporations the power to decide who has free speech.” Watson is a wide-ranging conspiracy theorist, having alleged that Hillary Clinton had brain damage and that the government ordered the Virginia Tech mass shooting. Having the president of the United States help someone like Watson spread his lies is terrifying.
Trump went on to retweet Lauren Southern grumbling about conservatives being labeled “dangerous/extremist.” Southern is a white supremacist who propagates the myth of white genocide and who bragged about trying to stop search and rescue boats from helping stranded immigrants in the Mediterranean.
By Sunday, Trump seemed to have exhausted his enthusiasm for white supremacists and switched to one of his other favorite topics: whining about how unfairly he is treated. He took his cue from evangelist Jerry Falwell, Jr., who tweeted that he now “support[s] reparations” and Trump should have two years added on to his first term because of the Russia investigation, which Falwell called a “corrupt failed coup.” Trump retweeted that, of course, and then went on to say that some unknown “they” had stolen two years of his presidency.
He found time to be mad about the result of Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, too. There was a historic reversal of fortunes when the horse that crossed the line first, Maximum Security, was disqualified for veering into the path of other horses on the track. Trump attributed the decision, confusingly, to “political correctness.” He didn’t have any additional tweets explaining how a decision about the finer points of the rules of horse racing was driven by PC culture.
These weekend tweetstorms are getting as predictable as they are tiresome. It’s strange that a president in the midst of a national emergency like the one Trump declared would be able to find the time, but somehow he always does.
Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.
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