Amid deadly clashes between protesters and counterprotesters, President Trump continued to fan partisan tensions this weekend, calling for federal forces to quell protests and denouncing local Democratic leaders. He also shared misinformation on Twitter, falsely tying Black Lives Matter and antifa to a 2019 crime on the New York City subway, implying that Black people are the same as antifa. Let’s take a look.
The Facts
On Sunday, Trump retweeted this video of a Black man assaulting a White woman on the New York City subway with share text that blamed Black Lives Matter and antifa. However, the video was from October 2019 and had nothing to do with either group. New York police saidthe man in the video was charged in connection to the incident. According to local news reports, he had a long history of arrests related to New York City public transportation.
Trump retweeted the group TDN_NOTICIAS, a Spanish-language account that appears to have an anti-Biden, pro-Trump slant. The video was originally posted by the account “I’m with Groyper.” According to the Anti-Defamation League, “groypers” are associated with the alt-right and supporters of white supremacists. CNN contacted the user and said he “identified himself as an advocate of White people creating their own ‘nations’ for supposed ‘protection’ from racial minorities.” Continue reading.