‘So Ridiculous!’ Donald Trump complains he is being blamed for New Zealand mosque massacre
- As well as being named in the suspected gunman’s manifesto, the US president has been named in analysis as a possible trigger for the mass killing
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“The Fake News Media is working overtime to blame me for the horrible attack in New Zealand,” Trump told his more than 59 million followers on Twitter. “They will have to work very hard to prove that one. So Ridiculous!”
Trump appeared to be referring to criticism of his response to the attack, which was allegedly carried out by a 28-year-old white supremacist claiming to be resisting genocide against white people.
In a lengthy written rant, the suspected killer referred to Trump as “a symbol of renewed white identity”.
Trump did on several occasions condemn the “horrible” attack and offer help to New Zealand’s authorities.
However, he played down the wider implications of the gunman’s ideology, saying violent white nationalism is not a growing problem.
“It’s a small group of people,” he said.
This led to a flurry of criticism from Democrats who insisted he was sending mixed signals and should have stood up against what some say is a mounting problem of white nationalists targeting minorities.
They pointed to his frequent labelling of illegal immigrants as invaders, his high-profile restrictions on immigration from several Muslim-majority countries and a lukewarm condemnation of a neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017.
"Time and time again, this president has embraced and emboldened white supremacists – and instead of condemning racist terrorists, he covers for them.
This isn't normal or acceptable," tweeted Kirsten Gillibrand, who formally entered the Democratic race for the White House on Sunday.
