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PoliticoUS protests: chainsaw-wielding racist gets boosted by top Trump aide
- Activity by senior Trump campaign adviser reflects a broader movement by some Republicans to attack the protests against police brutality
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This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Marc Caputo on politico.com on June 6, 2020
US President Donald Trump and his allies for years have amplified racist messages on Twitter while simultaneously reaching out to black and Hispanic voters, a dissonant balancing act that’s now rocking the Republican Party amid nationwide racial-justice protests.
The two competing forces collided Saturday on the Twitter feed of Trump campaign senior adviser Mercedes Schlapp, when she boosted a tweet that lauded a man in Texas in a viral video as he yelled the N-word and wielded a chainsaw to chase away anti-racism demonstrators.
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After POLITICO reached out to her and the campaign, Schlapp then retweeted another account that posted a version of the video that muted the racist slur.
Beyond Trump’s inner circle, Republicans have been under fire over racist social-media posts in Texas, where the chainsaw incident happened, triggering strife within Republican Party circles.
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A dozen Republican Party 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 Jnr quote next to an image of a banana, and another commented that “pandemic isn’t working. Start the racial wars”.
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