President Donald Trump appeared to have deleted a social media post showing one of his supporters shouting "white power," a phrase often used by white supremacists, after the retweet drew sharp rebuke from at least one fellow Republican.
The video, posted earlier on Sunday, no longer appeared in the president's feed late Sunday morning.
“Thank you to the great people of The Villages,” the president originally tweeted Sunday in response to the video, referring to the Florida retirement community where the original post said the clash had taken place.
Trump’s original tweet could fuel accusations he is fomenting racial divisions amid nationwide protests triggered by the May death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.
The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s tweet. “The Villages” was trending on Twitter as people seized on the tweet.
The beginning of the video shows demonstrators yelling “racist” and “where’s your white hood” at a man and woman riding in a golf cart adorned with Trump signs. “Yeah you got it,” the man responds, pumping his fist. “White power.”
Golf Cart Confrontation
Other clips show protesters yelling “f--- Trump” and “Nazi” at other Trump supporters driving by in golf carts, a common mode of transport at The Villages, a master-planned community for people over 55.
“The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!” Trump tweeted.
Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the video was offensive and should be taken down.
Also on CNN, John Bolton, the former national security adviser, that he doubted Trump was specifically endorsing the “white power” message, but had been taken in the sight of people displaying “Trump 2020” signs.
‘The Shooting Starts’
Trump has faced criticism about his rhetoric since the protests against police brutality began after Floyd’s death.
In late May, as some of the protests turned violent, Trump tweeted that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” -- a phrase used by a White Miami police chief to threaten civil rights protesters in the 1960s.
Trump said he didn’t know the origin of the phrase, but on June 11 he told an interviewer on Fox News that he heard it from former Philadelphia Police Commissioner and Mayor Frank Rizzo, whose tenure was marked by police violence against black communities.
During his run for a third mayoral term, Rizzo urged people to “vote white.”
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