TRUMP RETWEETS ANTI- MUSLIM VIDEOS
WASHINGTON — Stoking the same anti- Islam sentiments he fanned on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump on Wednesday retweeted a string of inflammatory videos from a fringe British political group purporting to show violence being committed by Muslims.
The tweets drew a sharp condemnation from British Prime Minister Theresa May’s office, which said it was “wrong for the president to have done this.” May spokesman James Slack said the farright Britain First group seeks to divide through its use of “hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions.”
In a later tweet, Trump said that instead of focusing on him, May should “focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within the United Kingdom.”
The tweets that Trump shared read: “VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” and “VIDEO: Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!” and “VIDEO: Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!”
Former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke welcomed the videos, tweeting that Trump was being “condemned for showing us what the fake news media WON’T. Thank God for Trump!’’
Condemnation from civil rights organizations was swift.
The executive director of the Council on American- Islamic Relations, Nihad Awad, said that Trump is “clearly telling members of his base that they should hate Islam and Muslims.”