A Republican lawmaker and Air Force veteran who served in Iraq and Afghanistan criticized President Donald Trump's retweets of anti-Muslim videos, saying Thursday it does not help the fight against terrorism.
"I don't think it helps to win at all," Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., told CNN's "New Day." "I think [it's helpful] to rally the people you can come and say, look, listen, we're fighting a real war on terror here. But, I think, to say it's basically all of Islam, us versus them, or to retweet this video, is definitely not helpful in the least."
The president came under fire Wednesday after he retweeted three videos that had been posted by the leader of a British nationalist group purporting to show Muslims carrying out assaults, and in one case, showing a man smashing a statute of the Virgin Mary.
Story continues below this video.
"I do think it matters if you retweet a video that's not real or that is put out by an extremist, I guess, in the UK," Kinzinger said Thursday, while insisting he does think the United States has "ISIS on its heels."
However, such videos and continued stress between Muslims and Americans could extend tensions, Kinzinger said.
"We have to fight what I call the next generational war on terror; it's the 7- and 8-year-olds," Kinzinger added. "Doesn't mean we fight them. It means we have to understand these are the ones that are either going to be the ones who are our enemies or they're going to be the ones who reject terrorism within their own community."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.