If you lie down with dogs, you get up with fleas
Days after the Trump rally, DougCo Sheriff Darren Weekly told the Douglas County News-Press that “it’s critical that people know that my speech and my comments had nothing to do with race.
CNN/NBC: President Trump posted a blatantly racist video clip portraying former President Barack Obama and the former first lady Michelle Obama as apes
The clip, set to “The Lion Sleeps Tonight,” was spliced near the end of a 62-second video that promoted conspiracy theories about anomalies in the 2020 presidential election. It was the latest in a long pattern by Mr. Trump of promoting offensive imagery and slurs about Black Americans and others.
The decision to delete the link from his social media site was an unusual walk-back by the president, whose own press secretary just hours earlier had brushed off criticism of the video.
The White House had earlier defended the post and downplayed the response to the video, calling it “fake outrage.” But just before noon, an official told CNN, “A White House staffer erroneously made the post. It has been taken down.” By that time, the video had been up for nearly 12 hours. A GOP Senate official said Republican lawmakers had called Trump to discuss the post with him.
And it sent the White House into major damage control mode, sources said, with officials, advisers and allies reaching out to lawmakers and the media to try to dispute that Trump himself played any role. One White House adviser asserted that, “The president was not aware of that video, and was very let down by the staffer who put it out.” Another ally sought to place blame on a specific aide.
“This is from an internet meme video depicting President Trump as the King of the Jungle and Democrats as characters from the Lion King,” Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, before Mr. Trump deleted the clip. “Please stop the fake outrage and report on something today that actually matters to the American public.”
Mr. Trump’s attacks on Mr. Obama go back years. Mr. Trump amplified the false “birther” conspiracy theory that Mr. Obama was not born in the United States, but in Kenya, and was therefore an illegitimate president.
Douglas County sheriff’s Trump rally speech ‘had nothing to do with race,’ Sheriff Weekly says
Colorado Community Media, Ellis Arnold, Oct 23, 2024
https://www.coloradocommunitymedia.com/archives/douglas-county/news/article_b7057a2c-b50b-5964-8a5c-15084c2f992d.html
On a stage with the words “Deport Illegals Now” behind him, Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly spoke at a rally for former President Donald Trump, praising him and emphasizing concerns surrounding migrant people and crime. “The Harris-Biden administration have turned their backs on law enforcement.
President Donald J. Trump will bring law and order back to America,” Weekly said in his remarks. He added: “We need to make America great again.”
Trump’s rally took place in Aurora, a suburb thrust into the national spotlight amid claims that it had become a “migrant gang war zone” and that areas in the city have been taken over — a narrative that the former president has pushed. The Republican candidate’s rhetoric has continued despite Aurora officials attempting to coat it.
“I will rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered,” Trump said at the rally. In remarks at the event, the Douglas County sheriff focused on immigration, standing next to mug shots of alleged gang members printed with the heading: “Occupied America.” “Some of these migrants are hardened criminals. They’re sex offenders, they’re murderers and they’re members of transnational criminal organizations like Tren de Aragua,” Weekly said.
Days after the rally, Weekly told the Douglas County News-Press that “it’s critical that people know that my speech and my comments had nothing to do with race.” “It had everything to do with public safety. I’m the elected sheriff, so I go through a primary process,” Weekly said, adding: “The Republican Party elected me to be the sheriff of Douglas County. (But) you will not find a (social media) post from our organization about politics.” At the rally, Weekly introduced himself as “the proud Republican sheriff of Douglas County.” Later, Weekly argued the sheriff’s office isn’t a political space.