Was Donald Trump’s Tweet Really Anti-Semitic?
Over the weekend, the Donald Trump presidential campaign sent out a tweet on Twitter that was supposed to be focused on Hillary Clinton’s corruption, but instead, triggered a renewed media-fueled debate over allegations of antisemitism.
The image that was sent out included the words “Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever” inside a six-pointed star. The Clinton campaign immediately responded with an allegation that the image promoted hatred for Jews.
Daniel Scavino, the campaign’s social media director, took responsibility for the image and explained what happened.
“The social media graphic used this weekend was not created by the campaign nor was it sourced from an anti-Semitic site,” he said. “It was lifted from an anti-Hillary Twitter user where countless images appear.
“The sheriff’s badge—which is available under Microsoft’s ‘shapes’—fit with the theme of corrupt Hillary and that is why I selected it. As the Social Media Director for the campaign, I would never offend anyone and therefore chose to remove the image.”
Trump didn’t miss out on the opportunity to add his own two cents’ worth to the discussion. He called the controversy another of Clinton’s “false attacks,” and said any attempt to equate a law enforcement symbol with the Star of David and antisemitism is “ridiculous.”
“The real questions are, why was Bill Clinton meeting secretly with the U.S. Attorney General on her case and where are the 33,000 missing emails and all of the other information missing from her case?” he said. “Why are there so many lies?”
