Mercedes Schlapp, the senior adviser to Donald Trump's re-election campaign, retweeted a video (posted by "texan_maga") of a Texas man yelling "nigger" and revving a chainsaw to chase away anti-racism demonstrators.
After Politico contacted Schlapp about the video on Saturday morning, she retweeted the video again, but with the racist slur muted. After Politico posted its story, Schlapp – being a coward who is scared to stand by her beliefs – deleted both retweets and issued a written apology.
I retweeted without watching the full video. I deleted the tweet. I would never knowingly promote the use of that word.For the record, the video runs for only 16 seconds before the slur is yelled. The entire clip is a mere 30 seconds. Schlapp is claiming she didn't watch even half of the video before retweeting it.
And the chainsaw does not really become visible until the 7-second mark. So Schlapp sees a guy menacing protestors with a running chainsaw and she doesn't watch him for even nine seconds out of curiosity? Really? She must think we're all as dumb as her boss.
Politico:
The video originated in McAllen, Texas, where demonstrators had gathered downtown, only to be confronted by a man with a chainsaw that he revved at them as they fled.Schlapp's retweets were not the only recent online racist bullshit from Republicans, of course.
"Go home!" yells the man, who was arrested Friday. "Don't let those f------ n------ out there fool you!"
The man's use of racist language and violent threats were roundly condemned on social media, with some sarcastically referring to the cult classic "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie. A pro-Trump account from Texas, though, lauded the assailant on Twitter and said he is "a Mexican business owner." Another pro-Trump account, called Latino Townhall, approvingly quote-tweeted the post Friday night and exclaimed: "That's how to do it."
Hours later, Schlapp retweeted that post. Schlapp, who is married to the prominent head of the American Conservative Union that hosts the popular CPAC conference, later retweeted it from another account that censored the racist comment but wrote the protesters had said "f--- the police." There is no evidence the demonstrators said that.
A dozen GOP county chairs in the state are under scrutiny for sharing racist social media posts commenting on the unrest and uprisings across the nation in response to the killing of a black man, George Floyd, by a white Minnesota police officer. One county chair juxtaposed a Martin Luther King Jr. quote next to an image of a banana, and another commented that "pandemic isn't working. Start the racial wars." ...Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have deleted videos posted by the Trump campaign because of copyright violations. The videos included narration from Trump (talking about George Floyd) over a series of photographs and videos taken during recent protests around the country. The owners of those photos and videos did not give the Trump campaign the right to use them. ... So expect another 200-tweet storm from an angry Dolt 45.
The Twitter activity from Schlapp was part of a longstanding practice by Trump and his backers who occasionally use Twitter to amplify inflammatory messages ...
The night before Schlapp's retweet of the video to her 140,000 followers, the president retweeted a clip of conservative commentator Glenn Beck's interview with a conservative black commentator, Candace Owens, who has taken a lead role in bashing Floyd.
"@RealCandaceO gave her thoughts: 'The fact that he has been held up as a martyr sickens me,'" Beck tweeted on Wednesday. Trump boosted the post Friday with a retweet. ...
Trump was criticized for denouncing "THUGS" in a Twitter post that warned "when the looting starts, the shooting starts," a phrase traced back to a segregation-era Miami police chief. Twitter flagged the tweet for violating its rules against inciting violence. The White House then posted the message, getting flagged as well. ...
Before he became president, Trump came under fire for a wide variety of Twitter activity — from promoting the false "birther" conspiracy about President Barack Obama to retweeting a false message about "black on black" crime. The following year, he tweeted an image of a Star of David set on a field of cash, which many viewed as anti-Semitic. The latter tweet has been deleted.
.@JoeBiden pls explain yourself. Who exactly are these not very good people?? https://t.co/7KhMjyP4JZ— Mercedes Schlapp (@mercedesschlapp) June 5, 2020
Maybe people who scream the N-word and chase peaceful protesters with a chainsaw? Maybe the people who promote videos of them?— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) June 6, 2020
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