Donald Trump retweets anti-Muslim conspiracies from Britain First leader
Trump retweeted three videos from the fringe neo-fascist group leader which were posted to incite hatred against Muslims.
2 min read
US President sparked controversy after retweeting a British anti-Muslim figurehead [Twitter]
US President Donald Trump was found early on Wednesday morning retweeting the deputy leader of a UK-based neo-fascist group.
The strongly Islamophobic tweets were first posted by the deputy leader of Britain First, Jayda Fransen, whose anti-Muslim content was shared just days after she was charged over hate speech allegations.
Trump retweeted three posts with videos which were clearly published to incite hatred for Muslims. Such incitement has previously been alleged to have inspired xenophobic attacks.
One of them purports to show a Muslim beating up a Dutch boy on crutches.
Another is described as showing an "Islamist mob" pushing a teenager of a rooftop.
The third allegedly depicts a Muslim throwing down and smashing a statue of the Virgin Mary.
The tweets Trump retweeted from Jayda Fransen's account [Twitter]
Jayda Fransen was recently charged with "threatening, abusive or insulting words or behaviour" over an "anti-terrorism" speech in Belfast. She is currently on bail facing four charges of instigating religiously aggravated harassment.
| Read more: What British Twitter thinks of Britain First, Donald Trump's new favourite internet thing |
Far-right political parties in the UK have disassociated themselves with Britain First because of their extremity.
UKIP, a far-right party in the UK, known for basing electoral campaigns on tackling the "Islamification of Britain" have previously disassociated themselves from Britain First, saying - "on the fringes of our politics are nutters and we don’t want them anywhere near us".
There was widespread outrage in Britain at Trump's retweets, but Fransen acknowledged Trump's retweet's with great appreciation.
"God bless you Trump, God bless America," she said in her responsive tweet.
Twitter Post
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Trump's interventions in British politics and controversial foreign policy have strained the so-called "special relationship".
He has infuriated British authorities with his tweets on terrorism in Britain, including highly publicised run-ins with London mayor Sadiq Khan.
Wednesday's retweets were part of an early morning burst in which Trump again dismissed CNN as "Fake News" and insisted the US economy was in "record territory" by many measures.
Trump also said consumer confidence was at an all-time high.
"I guess somebody likes me (my policies)!" the president wrote.
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