Trump Sparks Outrage By Tweeting White Nationalist Talking Point
President Donald Trump faced more accusations of racism late Wednesday after he tweeted about white farmers in South Africa.
In an apparent response to a segment on Tucker Carlson’s Fox News show, Trump said he’d asked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to “closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures”:
I have asked Secretary of State @SecPompeo to closely study the South Africa land and farm seizures and expropriations and the large scale killing of farmers. “South African Government is now seizing land from white farmers.” @TuckerCarlson @FoxNews
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2018
Fellow tweeters accused Trump of promoting the white nationalist talking point that the South African government was waging a war against whites.
Khusela Diko, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman, told Reuters that Trump was “misinformed” about the country’s planned land reforms and that its government would “take up the matter through diplomatic channels.”
“South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past,” the South African government tweeted. “South Africa will speed up the pace of land reform in a careful and inclusive manner that does not divide our nation.”
South Africa totally rejects this narrow perception which only seeks to divide our nation and reminds us of our colonial past. #landexpropriation @realDonaldTrump @PresidencyZA
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) August 23, 2018
Other tweeters saw Trump’s tweet as a “thumbs-up” to right-wing extremists and an attempt to distract people from the conviction of his former campaign manager Paul Manafort on eight charges and his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen pleading guilty to bank fraud, tax fraud and campaign finance violations:
South African land seizures are a huge topic with American right-wing extremists. They'll interpret this as another thumbs-up from the president. https://t.co/pQFg41u9ME
— Will Sommer (@willsommer) August 23, 2018
So I guess Trump's going all in on the white nationalist talking points about white farmers South Africa pic.twitter.com/TrcIaynHF6
— infinita tristeza (@AvenidaDe1aPaz) August 23, 2018
Subtle https://t.co/jh2h065UYc
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 23, 2018
The president of the United States has adopted a vile white supremacist hate narrative, right out of the darkest corners of the internet, and is turning it into policy. https://t.co/08Okq1qH3l
— Andrew Stroehlein (@astroehlein) August 23, 2018
Trump tweeting about white farmers being wronged by South African government. I have two words for Trump: Puerto Rico
— Ron Waxman (@RonWaxman) August 23, 2018
Days after being accused of saying the N word, Trump directs his Secretary of State to protect white farmers in South Africa. https://t.co/RvpezqD2zz
— Windsor Mann (@WindsorMann) August 23, 2018
based on the absolutely vile mollie tibbets propaganda and tonight’s broadcast of south african racist lies, it seems clear that the president and his media apparatus are reacting to legal woes by diving even harder into white supremacy
— Talia Lavin (@chick_in_kiev) August 23, 2018
Tucker Carlson trotted out one of his favorite discredited stories about white South African farmers being forced off their land and murdered. Then tonight after the segment aired, Trump tweeted that he was having Mike Pompeo look into it.
— (((David Lytle))) (@davitydave) August 23, 2018
Wow. Just... wow. Here we see the president of the US openly endorsing the "white genocide" propaganda of the South African white supremacist movement. https://t.co/LGH4iWXyGh
— Charles Johnson (@Green_Footballs) August 23, 2018
Oh hell no. Did you literally just tweet a blatant white nationalist conspiracy talking point?! https://t.co/iErGdQSZRE
— Christian Picciolini (@cpicciolini) August 23, 2018
WTF. Seriously, WTF. The president, who doesn't know where South Africa is and wonders when they changed the name from South Shithole is concerned about the appropriation of land from "white farmers"?! Down deep beneath his racist veneer are many layers of even deeper racism. https://t.co/w3eJQ2Xm8L
— David Rothkopf (@djrothkopf) August 23, 2018
Cool that Tucker Carlson is acting as direct pathway communicating narratives between white nationalists and the President of the United States. https://t.co/zPAGALtnVp
— Aaron Sankin (@ASankin) August 23, 2018
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This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
