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President Trump slammed for retweeting videos by Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen

DONALD Trump’s mental health has been questioned after his latest Twitter spree, which included shocking anti-Muslim videos.

Victoria Craw and James Law
6 min read
November 30, 2017 - 12:33PM
President Donald Trump has retweeted the leader of Britain First in a move that sparked shock in the UK. Picture: AP/Susan Walsh
President Donald Trump has retweeted the leader of Britain First in a move that sparked shock in the UK. Picture: AP/Susan Walsh

WARNING: GRAPHIC

DONALD Trump has been accused of “spreading hate” after he retweeted unverified anti-Muslim videos from a fringe far-right UK political leader.

In a particularly outrageous morning on Twitter, the US President also implied that one of his fiercest critics, cable news host Joe Scarborough, may have been involved in the death of a co-worker.

The President retweeted three anti-Muslim videos from the account of Britain First deputy leader Jayda Fransen early Wednesday to his nearly 44 million followers.

Britain First is a UK-based far-right ultranationalist political party that is vehemently anti-immigration. Its campaigns include to ban the BBC from “discriminating against white Britons”, to stop the expansion of mosques and to prevent the “persecution” of leaders Paul Golding and Jayda Fransen. Ms Fransen was convicted last year of religiously aggravated harassment after abusing a woman wearing a hijab.

At least one of the videos Mr Trump retweeted, which has the caption “Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches”, has been proven fake.

Dutch blog GeenStijl reports that “the perpetrator was not a Muslim, let alone a migrant, but simply a Dutchman”. A spokesman for the Dutch public prosecution confirmed the suspect was “born and raised in the Netherlands”.

In the video, one teen in a park places his arm around the other before punching him and kicking him on the ground. As a result of the video, first published in May, two local teens were arrested.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders defended the President, saying it didn’t matter if the videos were real or not.

“I think you’re focusing on the wrong thing. The threat is real and that’s what the President is talking about, is the need for national security, the need for military spending and those are very real things; there’s nothing fake about that,” she told reporters on Wednesday.

The second retweeted video, which is reportedly at least four years old, shows a man in Muslim dress holding a statue of the Virgin Mary and contains the caption “Muslim Destroys a Statue of Virgin Mary!”

The third video is labelled “Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!” It reveals a group of young men on a rooftop in an undisclosed location, one of whom is wearing an Islamic State flag. At one point, a young man is thrown by the others off a part of the roof.

Ms Fransen revelled in the attention, saying “God bless you Trump”. She also retweeted several articles noting the President’s actions.

Other videos in Ms Fransen’s Twitter feed show her walking the streets of Luton with a Christian cross. One video is called “Muslims attack an Englishman in London!” while another has the headline “Crowds gather for public execution of woman accused of adultery!”

Britain First is a fringe party with no elected officials, however it has a strong social media footprint and wants to crackdown completely on immigration. It also wants to offer cash to foreigners to leave the UK and make it “treason” to increase immigration quotas.

Leader Paul Golding was recently jailed for eight weeks after breaking a High Court ban on entering mosques after the group filmed themselves in “mosque invasions” to confront worshippers.

Jayda Fransen, the woman Mr Trump retweeted. Pic: AFP
Jayda Fransen, the woman Mr Trump retweeted. Pic: AFP

REACTION: ‘ALMOST BEYOND BELIEF’

Condemnation from leading figures in the UK was swift.

Via a spokesman, Prime Minister Theresa May said it was “wrong for the President to have done this”.

“Britain First seeks to divide communities through their use of hateful narratives which peddle lies and stoke tensions,” the Downing St spokesman told the Evening Standard.

“They cause anxiety to law-abiding people. British people overwhelmingly reject the prejudiced rhetoric of the far-right, which is the antithesis of the values that this country represents — decency, tolerance and respect.”

Firebrand broadcaster Piers Morgan, who has defended Mr Trump in the past, laid into him in no uncertain terms.

“What the hell are you doing retweeting a bunch of unverified videos by Britain First, a bunch of disgustingly racist far-right extremists?” Mr Morgan asked.

“I don’t know what on earth possessed Donald Trump to offer such a stunning, shocking and repulsive endorsement of these racist Muslim-despising scumbags,” he wrote.

“Casually tossing videos like this out to tens of millions of people, purely to encourage hatred of Muslims, is almost beyond belief. You might as well have addressed the American people from the Oval Office with a Ku Klux Klan hat on.”

Labour MP David Lammy said: “Trump sharing Britain First. Let that sink in. The President of the United States is promoting a fascist, racist, extremist hate group whose leaders have been arrested and convicted. He is no ally or friend of ours. @realDonaldTrump you are not welcome in my country and my city.”

“Do not forget that the man who murdered Jo Cox shouted “Britain First”. Trump has gone beyond the pale today.”

Brendan Cox, the widowed husband of former UK Labour MP Jo Cox, who was killed in the run-up to the Brexit referendum, said: “Trump has legitimised the far right in his own country, now he’s trying to do it in ours.

“Spreading hatred has consequences & the President should be ashamed of himself.”

Mr Trump’s critics back in the United States were also scathing - none more so than the editorial page of the New York Daily News.

“After his latest spasm of deranged tweets, only those completely under his spell can deny what growing numbers of Americans have long suspected: the President of the United States is profoundly unstable. He is mad. He is, by any honest layman’s definition, mentally unwell and viciously lashing out,” the paper wrote.

“Occam’s razor, and the sheer strangeness of Trump’s behaviour, leads us to conclude that we are witnessing signs of mania.”

Donald Trump. Pic: AFP
Donald Trump. Pic: AFP

TRUMP IMPLIES CRITIC WAS INVOLVED IN DEATH

Mr Trump has suggested MSNBC host Joe Scarborough may have had something to do with the death of an intern in 2001.

Soon after his anti-Muslim push, Mr Trump was back on Twitter weighing into the scandal surrounding Matt Lauer. The US Today show host was sacked Wednesday morning over “sexual misconduct” allegations.

Mr Trump quickly turned the discussion to Today’s network, NBC, saying its executives should also be fired for “putting out so much fake news”.

He went on to make an extraordinary implication about one of his fiercest critics, MSNBC’s Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough.

The “unsolved mystery” Mr Trump is referring to is the death of Lori Klausutis, 28, an intern who was found dead in Scarborough’s Florida office in 2001 when he was still a Republican congressman.

To be clear, there is no mystery in her death.

The medical examiner concluded that Ms Klausutis “lost consciousness because of an abnormal heart rhythm and fell, hitting her head on a desk”.

“The head injury caused the death,” he said a month after she was found.

There is no evidence of foul play, but the tragedy has been spun into a conspiracy theory, which has now been repeated by the President of the United States.

Mr Trump’s comment was swiftly condemned.

Scarborough dismissed the allegation by saying Mr Trump “is not well”.

Mr Trump used to be close to Scarborough and his co-host and partner Mika Brzezinski, but they have had a massive falling out since he won the presidency.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Picture: AFP/Getty/Nicholas Hunt
Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski. Picture: AFP/Getty/Nicholas Hunt

He famously mocked Brzezinski’s intelligence, calling her “dumb as a rock”, and claimed that she had been “bleeding badly from a facelift” in a nasty Twitter blast in June.

Mr Trump’s also retweeted Ms Huckabee Sanders on Wednesday morning, who said “Christmas comes early! Finally, good news from @CNN” in response to news that CNN staff would boycott the White House Christmas party.

The President has also vowed to end the “war on Christmas” after the Obamas favoured a more non-denominational approach.

This year, Trump’s first presidential Christmas Card will say “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year” rather than the generic “happy holidays” that is common in the US but railed against as being overly politically correct.

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/leaders/president-trump-slammed-for-retweeting-videos-by-britain-first-deputy-leader-jayda-fransen/news-story/e46784cca9cac99a91a7e5163af50b7b