On Tuesday morning, President Trump retweeted an image of “the Trump Train” striking a CNN journalist. He shared the image with his 36 million followers three days after an alleged neo-Nazi sympathizer ran over a woman during a white supremacist rally in Virginia, killing her.
Trump later undid his retweet, but the damage was done. Further, the account he promoted — @SLandinSoCal — has repeatedly posted racist content, including anti-Semitic propaganda from David Duke’s website:
“Blitzer…is a Jewish extremist…of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, ..extremist Israel lobby"https://t.co/6mz5Z6VBqY
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) November 11, 2016
The account has also amplified the racist birther conspiracy theory:
#SheriffJoe’s probe finds #Obama #BirthCertificate ‘fake’ https://t.co/I1sKhxESKL via @worldnetdaily pic.twitter.com/q1K5K1kj88
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) December 16, 2016
The user said that stereotypes about blacks were accurate and “a result of actions by that group.”
Black Americans need to start taking responsibility for their racial stereotype. Stereotypes develop as a result of actions by that group. pic.twitter.com/ccAnML7TRg
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) August 14, 2017
She’s identified with the “white pride” movement:
So explain to me why we have black pride & that's celebrated, but white pride is vehemently called racist!
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) November 21, 2016
The pseudonymous user is a member of Gab, an alternative to Twitter promoted by white nationalists. She also pushed the baseless Pizzagate conspiracy theory about prominent Democrats being involved in a pizza parlor-based pedophilia ring:
#PizzaGate #Obama #SecretService Agent Pleads Guilty To #Pedophilia https://t.co/OMF8Yw76mB via @yournewswire
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) March 6, 2017
She posted a number of obviously fake news stories about Obama:
BOMBSHELL NYT Report: #FBI Believed #Obama Was Rigging U.S. Election! – https://t.co/dSjdPmLuRa
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) May 15, 2017
FINALLY! Obama's College Records RELEASED…What They Show Could Land Him In PRISON! https://t.co/DDPMnCC1ld
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) June 8, 2017
Just this week, the account has posted racist memes:
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) August 11, 2017
She also recently posted a meme portraying Trump as a Christ-like figure:
#MondayMotivation pic.twitter.com/qjzQqHJE56
— SL (@SLandinSoCal) August 14, 2017
Trump’s retweet of a meme depicting a journalist being hit by a train came on the same morning he retweeted and then un-retweeted a post calling him a fascist.
President Trump accidentally (presumably) re-tweeted a man calling him a fascist. This is the same guy who has the nuclear launch codes. pic.twitter.com/evUaCQigqi
— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) August 15, 2017
Both the tweet containing the image of the train striking the CNN journalist and the one calling him a fascist were replies to yet another tweet Trump retweeted — a Fox News report about how he’s considering a pardon for ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who, as the reports details, “was found guilty two weeks ago of criminal contempt for defying a state judge’s order to stop traffic patrols targeting suspected undocumented immigrants.”
Trump, who is quoted in the story calling Arpaio “a great American patriot,” is considering a pardon for him despite proclaiming belatedly proclaiming that “racism is evil” on Monday, two days after the Virginia incident.
On Monday night, Trump retweeted a tweet posted by Jack Posobiec, a fringe conspiracy theorist who was one of the internet’s most prominent pushers of Pizzagate.
Trump just retweeted Jack Posobiec, one of the MAGA fever swamp's foremost Pizzagate pushers. #StayClassy pic.twitter.com/MYLMvaWBe3
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 15, 2017
Shortly after the election in November, Posobiec tried to discredit protesters at an anti-Trump rally outside the Trump International Hotel in Washington D.C. by planting “Rape Melania” signs in the crowd. And yet Trump chose to promote Posobiec to his 36 million followers anyway. He hasn’t reversed that retweet.
Shortly after he took over as White House chief of staff late last month, John Kelly reportedly talked with President Trump about toning down his bombastic Twitter habits. But if the past 24 hours are any indication, the president didn’t listen to him.
Tuesday morning wasn’t the first time Trump promoted violence against CNN journalists on Twitter. In early July, he tweeted out a GIF of himself attacking a person whose head was replaced with CNN’s logo. It was later determined that the GIF originated with a Reddit user who had posted racist and anti-Semitic imagery.
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UPDATE: A White House official told CNN that Trump’s retweet of the train image was “inadvertently posted.”
A WH official tells CNN the image of a train hitting a man/CNN logo was "inadvertently posted" & "immediately deleted" once it was noticed
— Dan Merica (@danmericaCNN) August 15, 2017