President Donald Trump on Wednesday morning retweeted three violent, anti-Muslim videos from the deputy leader of a far-right, ultra-nationalist British party, one of which appears to show the murder of a teenage boy.
The three videos, all retweeted by the president at or before 6:00am CT, show acts of violence purportedly committed by Muslims.
The videos are titled: “VIDEO: Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!”; “VIDEO: Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!”: and “VIDEO: Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” The last video appears to show the moment the teenager dies.
The videos remain on Trump’s Twitter timeline, as of publication.
The videos were posted by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of Britain’s ultra-nationalist, far-right party Britain First. Fransen was arrested in early November in Belfast, Ireland, after giving a speech this summer at a rally.
In June 2016, a politician for the left-wing Labour Party, Jo Cox, was assassinated by a man who eyewitnesses said shouted “Britain first” as he shot and stabbed her. The organization denied involvement and condemned the attack.
Britain First responded enthusiastically to President Trump’s tweets.
https://twitter.com/BritainFirstHQ/status/935842081586798593
Even some of Trump’s most ardent supporters found the video and association with Britain First distasteful.
Yeah, someone might want to tell whoever is running Trump's Twitter account this morning that retweeting Britain First is not great optics. 🤔
— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) November 29, 2017
The videos come at a time where the president has stepped up calls for enforcement of his “travel ban” to prevent immigration from several Muslim-majority nations into the U.S. The ban was first proposed in January and, amid an ongoing court battle, was allowed to go into effect while the Supreme Court waited to hear challenges to it. Critics of the ban believe it illegally targets Muslims.
After a terrorist used a rental truck to kill eight people in Manhattan in October, Trump aggressively called for more stringent vetting.
The United States will be immediately implementing much tougher Extreme Vetting Procedures. The safety of our citizens comes first!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 2, 2017