TRUMP RAPS MAY FOR ATTACKING HIS RETWEETS
LONDON/WASHINGTON: Donald Trump has publicly rebuked Theresa May over her criticism of anti-Muslim propaganda, opening an extraordinary diplomatic spat between the allies.
“Theresa@theresamay, don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom,” the US president tweeted on Wednesday evening. “We are doing just fine!”
Trump’s message came in response to criticism from the British prime minister’s spokesman over the president’s retweeting of incendiary videos posted by the deputy leader of a British farright group.
However, the “@theresamay” Twitter handle that Trump targeted does not belong to the British prime minister, but to a woman called Theresa Scrivener. Minutes later Trump deleted and reposted the tweet, this time with the correct handle.
May’s spokesman on Thursday said: “The overwhelming majority of Muslims in this country are law-abiding people who abhore extremism in all its forms. The prime minister has been clear ... that where Islamist extremism does exist it should be tackled head on. We are working hard to do that both at home and internationally and ... with our US partners.”
The drama began when Trump retweeted videos that purported to show a group of Muslims pushing a boy off a roof, destroying a statue of the Virgin Mary, and showing a Muslim immigrant hitting a Dutch boy on crutches.
The credibility of the last video was undermined when the Dutch embassy in the US said the perpetrator of act was born and raised in the Netherlands.
UK home secretary Amber Rudd repeated the government’s view that Trump was “wrong” to retweet the videos. She also welcomed a suggestion by a Conservative lawmaker that Trump delete his Twitter account.
“I’m sure many of us might share his view,” Rudd said.
However, local government secretary Sajid Javid took a much harder line. He tweeted: “So POTUS has endorsed the views of a vile, hate-filled racist organisation that hates me and people like me. He is wrong and I refuse to let it go and say nothing.”
London mayor Sadiq Khan, who has previously clashed with Trump, called on May to demand an apology. He said Trump has promoted “a vile, extremist group” and an official visit by him to Britain “would not be welcomed.”
US Democrats joined the condemnation. Keith Ellison, the deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee branded the president “a racist”.
But the White House defended the retweets. Principal deputy press secretary Raj Shah said: “We think that it’s never the wrong time to talk about security and public safety for the American people. Those are the issues he was raising with the tweets.”