On Wednesday, November 29, 2017, President Trump shared three anti-Muslim videos on Twitter. The three were titled "Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!," "Muslim destroys a statue of Virgin Mary!," and lastly "Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!" These tweets had initially been posted by Jayda Fransen, who is a far-right British activist and leader. President Trump retweeting these posts has caused a substantial backlash in Britain, as well as criticism from the office of the British prime minister.
Jayda Fransen is the deputy leader of Britain First. The 31-year-old was a former member of the English Defence League (EDL), which is also a far-right political group in Britain. Fransen has stated that she left the EDL due to its reputation for alcohol-fuelled violence. When Britain First's leader, Paul Golding, went to prison earlier this year she served as the acting leader. Fransen herself is currently on bail for four charges of causing religiously aggravated harassment; her trail is set for May of 2018. During the summer she made an anti-terrorism speech in Northern Ireland, due to this she was arrested and flown to Belfast earlier this month for using threatening language during the speech. Fransen has posted to Twitter over 1,500 times, the vast majority in relation to anti-Islamic sentiment.
Britain First is a far-right political party in Britain. In May of 2011 by members who previously belonged to the British National Party. The party claims to have 6,000 members; they also have nearly two million ‘likes' on Facebook which is more than any other political party in Britain. Since its founding, Britain First has sought to have their members elected to Parliament, but this has been met with little success as they have never been able to win a seat. The foundation of this political party rests on calling for the return of "traditional British values," the end of "Islamisation," as well as a general anti-immigration stance. They have continuously been condemned for being an extremist group that targets the Muslim community. The party continues to insist that they are not a racist party.
After President Trump shared the video of the Dutch boy being attacked by a supposed Muslim, the Dutch media quickly responded back by stating the video was not what it seemed. According to reports, this video was first posted online in May. By the request of the Dutch police, the video was then removed. The incident depicted is said to have taken place in Monnickendam, which a Dutch province of North Holland. According to Dutch reports the attacker, who is shown in the video, was a 16-year-old Dutchman and was neither an immigrant or Muslim. The video titled "Islamist mob pushes teenage boy off roof and beats him to death!" shows a group of men attacking a young man, on top of a building, before being thrown off and beaten. This video first surfaced online in 2013 and was during the violence in Egypt when Mohamad Morsi was overthrown.
Sentiments such as this coming from President Trump is unsettling for many Americans, especially those that are part of Muslim community. His tweets often show a lack of understanding of what a leader of a nation should publically say. Every tweet is a statement, and with each one he repeatedly indicates an inability to consider what is best for all. So the question created is can a man like this be the best fit for all in the United States of America?
