Donald Trump Tweets Racially Charged Insults To Jeb Bush
Donald Trump has made a name for himself during his bid for the Republican presidential nomination for inflammatory rhetoric, but the outspoken, proudly non-politically correct candidate may have crossed the line. Tuesday, his Twitter account posted a picture of rival candidate Jeb Bush next to a swastika.
The tweet was taken down off of Donald Trump’s Twitter account, but the damage was already done. The tweet itself seems to have been a retweet or partial retweet of Trump supporter’s tweet, featuring a collage of insulting images of Jeb Bush. One of the images shows Jeb Bush next to a Nazi flag, with the swastika prominently displayed. Bush is pictured next to his other famous family members, including former presidents George Bush and George W. Bush. Above the Bush family are the words “Bush Crime Family.” Another image in the inflammatory collage shows Jeb dressed as if he is a member of a mariachi band next to a cactus. The latter is an obvious, racially charged jab at the fact that Jeb Bush’s wife is of Mexican descent, something which Trump has attempted to use against Bush.
The tweet read, “ADIOS, JEB aka JOSÉ.”
@GOP @reince @FoxNewsInsider @seanhannity @oreillyfactor @realDonaldTrump ADIOS, JEB aka JOSÉ pic.twitter.com/DBLiN3VCeo
— @LIFE & LIBERTY (@AndreaWeslien) November 4, 2015
Social media users were quick to call Trump out.
Tweeting out swastikas and racial stereotypes to attack @jebBush. Very grown up. @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/3D3FrPFR7q
— Scott Wooledge (@Clarknt67) November 4, 2015
“You just reposted a photo montage that called Jeb Bush a Nazi AND had him dressed as a mariachi,” another user tweeted.
Once the mounting outcry over the overtly racial overtones blatantly displayed in the tweet, with both the swastika and the poorly-done image manipulation of Jeb, placing him in a typically Mexican mode of dress, caused outrage, the tweet was taken down. A spokesperson for the Trump campaign told NBC News that Trump had not seen the accompanying image when he retweeted the original tweet, the same as “hundreds of others,” and said the post had since been deleted. Unlike many other politicians and famous people who are rarely the force behind their social media accounts, Trump claims that 90 percent of the tweets he posts come from him personally, leading many to believe that there is a high likelihood that this tweet was sent out by Donald — and deliberately so.
Trump’s latest tweet drew swift condemnation from the Bush camp, with Bush’s national spokesperson, Kristy Campbell, firing back on Twitter.
“Trump tweets swastika as part of latest attack on Jeb. T-minus 8 hours until another ‘young intern’ is fired.”
The “young intern” comment is in reference to other social media messes Trump’s campaign has found themselves in lately because, with Trump being who he is, this is certainly not the first controversial tweet sent from his account. Just this summer, there was another tweet that dealt with Nazis, which was quickly blamed on a “young intern.”
And just last month, Trump blithely retweeted an insult to the citizens of Iowa that read, “Too much #Monsanto in the #corn creates issues in the brain?”
This tweet was also deleted by the campaign and then blamed again on another “young intern.”
At least this time, the campaign is admitting that the tweet was sent out by Donald Trump, so another “young intern” does not actually need to fear for his or her job.
Donald Trump has been ceaseless in his attacks against Jeb Bush, ruthlessly branding him as a “low energy candidate” and claiming that, because of his wife, Bush cannot be tough on immigration. In turn, Jeb has downplayed Donald Trump’s poll numbers, dismissing him as an entertainer rather than a serious contender.
[Photo by Noam Galai / Getty Images]
