On Wednesday, President Trump retweeted three unverified anti-Islamic videos from Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain’s far-right extremist group Britain First. Trump is infamous for his inconsiderate and/or ridiculous tweets, but these retweets in particular could have serious implications, particularly given the extremist group’s alleged ties to violence in the U.K and Fransen’s own conviction for harassing and verbally abusing a Muslim woman in Luton, England last year.
The Washington Post reports that the videos were titled “Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!” (even though Dutch media coverage did not imply that the attacker was Muslim), “Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!” and “Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!”
Certainly the United States should be disturbed and concerned by radical terrorists, but these videos have absolutely no tie with the so-called “radical Islamic terrorism” Trump frequently cites. They are isolated events. We could just as easily find videos of white Christian boys acting in disturbing and extreme ways. (Need I remind you of the vast majority of mass shootings within the United States?) Instead, these videos seek to condemn peaceful Muslims who have the same First Amendment right to freedom of religion in the United States as Christians do.
As The Washington Post asks, “Why? Why is the leader of the free world retweeting virulent anti-Muslim videos, videos that serve no purpose other than to vilify Muslims broadly by isolating examples of unconscionable acts by individuals?” And, shortly after Trump’s retweets became publicized, the British Prime Minister’s office (also known as Downing Street) said the president was “wrong” to stoke the fires of islamophobia with those retweets.
No small thing when Downing Street condemns the President of the United States pic.twitter.com/Sd1OItnYQZ
— Katy Tur (@KatyTurNBC) November 29, 2017
Fransen, the woman who originally tweeted the videos, is an extremist British politician who does not hesitate to emphasize her anti-Islamic views. According to The Guardian, last year she was accused of religiously aggravated harassment after she verbally assaulted a woman wearing a hijab. Her pinned tweet is a disturbing video of her carrying a cross at an anti-Islam march.
In a country full of political unrest, Trump’s Muslim constituents have long been feeling as though their president is discriminatory towards them. Instead of ensuring the country that he supports freedom of religion and is not in fact Islamophobic, Trump continues to use anti-Muslim rhetoric. In 2015, he called for a “complete and total shutdown” of Muslims entering the US. In 2016, he was either unaware of or unconcerned by the difference between Islam and radical Islamic terrorism when he said, “I think Islam hates us.”
He falsely claimed that Muslims in New Jersey held “tailgate-style parties on rooftops” after 9/11 (he said his claims were backed up by Internet users). He has also been heavily criticized for his travel ban, which focused on predominantly Muslim countries. By retweeting these videos, Trump perpetuates the Islamophobia that already runs rampant in the United States — which is terrifying as it is disturbing.
Former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told CNN, “I think it causes friends and allies to question where is he coming from with this. So it has all kinds of ripple effects both in terms of perhaps inciting or encouraging anti-Muslim violence, and as well, causes, I think, our friends and allies to wonder about the judgment of the President of the United States.”