Trump Retweets Video of Guns Pointed at Protesters
WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- President Donald Trump, again accentuating racial tensions in America, on Monday posted a video showing a Missouri couple brandishing guns towards protesters who were calling for police reforms.
Without comment, Trump retweeted an ABC News video showing a white couple responding to Black and white protesters marching past their St. Louis mansion. In the video and others on social media, some protesters can be seen pausing to film or photograph the couple, while others can be heard to shout, "Keep moving!” and "Let’s go!”
Mark McCloskey, 63, who lives in the mansion with his wife, Patricia McCloskey, said they feared for their lives and that protesters damaged a wrought-iron gate at an entrance to the wealthy neighborhood. Both are personal-injury lawyers.
"This is all private property,” he said in an interview with KMOV4 local news. "There are no public sidewalks or public streets. I was terrified that we’d be murdered within seconds, our house would be burned down, our pets would be killed. We were all alone facing an angry mob.”
Kimberly Gardner, the city’s chief prosecutor, said she was alarmed by the videos and that her office was investigating.
"We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated,” she said in a statement.
The protesters had been heading to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson to demand her resignation after she read out the names and addresses of people calling for police reform in a Facebook Live event last week. Krewson apologized and took the video down.
On Sunday, Trump drew swift condemnation for retweeting video of a Florida supporter shouting "white power,” a phrase used by white supremacist groups, and later deleted it. The White House said Trump had not heard the slogan.
Trump also blasted Princeton University’s weekend announcement that it was removing former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s name from its schools over his racist remarks and policies.
"Incredible stupidity!” Trump tweeted.
Opinion polls show the Republican Trump trailing his likely Democratic rival in the Nov. 3 election, former Vice President Joe Biden, and an increasing number of Americans sympathizing with protesters and support policing reforms.
The Princeton decision is part of a sweeping reassessment of historical icons and monikers amid growing calls for racial justice following the killing of Black Americans, including George Floyd, whose death under the knee of a white police officer roused world protests.
Critics have highlighted Trump’s hostile response to protests against racial injustice and actions like Princeton’s, even as Mississippi on Sunday voted to remove the Confederate flag symbol from its state flag, Walmart stopped selling the Confederate flag, and NASCAR banned the Civil War-era symbol.
Twitch Suspends Trump’s Campaign Account
Twitch, the popular video game streaming website, on Monday announced that Trump’s Team Trump campaign account has been temporarily suspended for "hateful conduct.”
"Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch. In line with our policies, President Trump’s channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed,” the company said in a statement.
Twitch’s decision to suspend Trump’s campaign account comes after clips from a 2016 campaign rally, as well as the president’s recent Tulsa rally, were shared on the platform.
The 2016 video was flagged for Trump’s racist remarks about Mexican immigrants. "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and their bringing those problems with us,” Trump says in the footage. "They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to the border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people.”
Without comment, Trump retweeted an ABC News video showing a white couple responding to Black and white protesters marching past their St. Louis mansion. In the video and others on social media, some protesters can be seen pausing to film or photograph the couple, while others can be heard to shout, "Keep moving!” and "Let’s go!”
Mark McCloskey, 63, who lives in the mansion with his wife, Patricia McCloskey, said they feared for their lives and that protesters damaged a wrought-iron gate at an entrance to the wealthy neighborhood. Both are personal-injury lawyers.
"This is all private property,” he said in an interview with KMOV4 local news. "There are no public sidewalks or public streets. I was terrified that we’d be murdered within seconds, our house would be burned down, our pets would be killed. We were all alone facing an angry mob.”
Kimberly Gardner, the city’s chief prosecutor, said she was alarmed by the videos and that her office was investigating.
"We must protect the right to peacefully protest, and any attempt to chill it through intimidation or threat of deadly force will not be tolerated,” she said in a statement.
The protesters had been heading to the home of St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson to demand her resignation after she read out the names and addresses of people calling for police reform in a Facebook Live event last week. Krewson apologized and took the video down.
On Sunday, Trump drew swift condemnation for retweeting video of a Florida supporter shouting "white power,” a phrase used by white supremacist groups, and later deleted it. The White House said Trump had not heard the slogan.
Trump also blasted Princeton University’s weekend announcement that it was removing former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s name from its schools over his racist remarks and policies.
"Incredible stupidity!” Trump tweeted.
Opinion polls show the Republican Trump trailing his likely Democratic rival in the Nov. 3 election, former Vice President Joe Biden, and an increasing number of Americans sympathizing with protesters and support policing reforms.
The Princeton decision is part of a sweeping reassessment of historical icons and monikers amid growing calls for racial justice following the killing of Black Americans, including George Floyd, whose death under the knee of a white police officer roused world protests.
Critics have highlighted Trump’s hostile response to protests against racial injustice and actions like Princeton’s, even as Mississippi on Sunday voted to remove the Confederate flag symbol from its state flag, Walmart stopped selling the Confederate flag, and NASCAR banned the Civil War-era symbol.
Twitch Suspends Trump’s Campaign Account
Twitch, the popular video game streaming website, on Monday announced that Trump’s Team Trump campaign account has been temporarily suspended for "hateful conduct.”
"Hateful conduct is not allowed on Twitch. In line with our policies, President Trump’s channel has been issued a temporary suspension from Twitch for comments made on stream, and the offending content has been removed,” the company said in a statement.
Twitch’s decision to suspend Trump’s campaign account comes after clips from a 2016 campaign rally, as well as the president’s recent Tulsa rally, were shared on the platform.
The 2016 video was flagged for Trump’s racist remarks about Mexican immigrants. "When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and their bringing those problems with us,” Trump says in the footage. "They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people. But I speak to the border guards and they tell us what we’re getting. And it only makes common sense. It only makes common sense. They’re sending us not the right people.”