With Hillary Clinton being interviewed by the FBI about her private emails, Donald Trump was supposed to be having a good day of Hillary-bashing Saturday. And then the Biased Liberal Media went and misconstrued one of his HILARIOUS anti-Hillary memes as anti-Semitic. Who could possibly think that the man who retweets neo-Nazis, promotes debunked racist crime stats, blames sexist Tweets on interns, and gives a platform to users named WhiteGenocideTM would possibly be that insensitive?
Again, how many times does Trump and his staff have to post memes and tweets from neo-Nazis before we stop calling it a mistake?
— (((Will Cubbison))) (@wccubbison) July 3, 2016
Trump went so far as to change the Star Of David in the Tweet to a circle (see photos above), not because it was an anti-Semitic dogwhistle for his most bigoted followers, but just because...he didn't aesthetically like it? It's unclear why he altered it (WINK WINK), but one thing is for certain: Mic reports that the meme was created by and featured on a White Supremacist message board a few weeks ago.
It's 2016 & the GOP nominee for the Presidency tweets an anti-Semitic graphic that his campaign stole from a white supremacist website. 👍
— Alex Goldstein (@alexjgoldstein) July 3, 2016
Mic reports: "The image was first featured on /pol/ — an Internet message board for the alt-right, a digital movement of neo-Nazis, anti-Semites, and white supremacists newly emboldened by the success of Donald Trump's rhetoric — as early as June 22, 2016, over a week before Donald Trump's team tweeted it." Reporter Gideon Resnick points out that the image previously appeared on Reddit this month as well—what is clear is that someone on Trump's social media team is paying attention to these alt-right threads and memes.
Timeline of events so far: Twitter user posts image on June 15, 8chan posts it on June 22, Trump tweets on July 2. https://t.co/RnBJwGtFeR
— Gideon Resnick (@GideonResnick) July 3, 2016
Hey people who claim this is a sheriff's badge, this is who created it https://t.co/jWqsVoyLFp pic.twitter.com/tJZSD9nKOv
— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) July 3, 2016
@maggieNYT the site is currently posting this pic.twitter.com/EaRphdLOi7
— Justin Miller (@justinjm1) July 3, 2016
There is a trope in superhero stories and daytime television in which the supervillain has a very public falling out with a very trusted former advisor or ally, all as part of a ruse so that follower can infiltrate the halls of power/the good guys and do the supervillains bidding from the inside. (This is also kind of the plot of The Departed.) To that end, former Trump spokesperson Corey Lewandowski, who was controversially recently hired by CNN, got to work defending Trump and the meme, and blaming the outrage on "political correctness run amok."
Lewandowski: Pushback on Trump's star tweet is "political correctness run amok" https://t.co/jhYzAouS3r #CNNSOTU https://t.co/78dMzH38Mn
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 3, 2016
Who could have seen this coming?!
good god pic.twitter.com/e0Fqi1lHlZ
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) July 3, 2016
People are rightfully incensed about Lewandowski's defense.
The desire to not see Nazi-inspired imagery tweeted out by a presidential candidate is not "political correctness." It's sanity.
— Rex Huppke (@RexHuppke) July 3, 2016
.@CNN Howard Dean's campaign stalled when he yelled weirdly. And now? You're helping to normalize hatred of Jews pic.twitter.com/N8XKRLBQiD
— Andy Richter (@AndyRichter) July 3, 2016
This incident is clearly bringing the best out in Trump's most fervent followers:
My mentions are a horror show, though. pic.twitter.com/DJanEFbwte
— Maris Kreizman (@mariskreizman) July 3, 2016
And then there's this convo I just had responding to my earlier tweet about Trump tweeting an anti-Semitic tweet. pic.twitter.com/4JU0BDCBoK
— Michael Ian Black (@michaelianblack) July 3, 2016