On Sunday, Donald Trump came under fire for twisting the statements of London Mayor Sadiq Khan regarding the London terror attack in one of his tweets.
The President has a reputation of being a compulsive tweeter and often vents through the social media platform. His Twitter feed is considered a doorway into the workings of his mind and this outburst points to the President’s alarmist approach to the security situation in the West.
In the aftermath of the horrifying terror attack in the London Bridge area where 3 attackers plowed a van through a group of pedestrians and then proceeded on foot in a stabbing spree. The rampage took the lives of 7 and injured 48.
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The President had at first expressed solidarity with the U.K tweeting “WE ARE WITH YOU”
Whatever the United States can do to help out in London and the U. K., we will be there – WE ARE WITH YOU. GOD BLESS!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 3 June 2017
However, he wasted little time in using the tragedy to further his own agenda. Reinstating his position on banning citizens of certain Muslim majority nations entry into the U.S he stated that the courts needed to give people their rights back
We need to be smart, vigilant and tough. We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 3 June 2017
Then, deliberately twisting the statement of Sadiq Khan who had said “Londoners will see an increased police presence today and over the course of the next few days. No reason to be alarmed. One of the things the police, all of us, need to do is make sure we’re as safe as we possibly can be.” Trump tweeted:
At least 7 dead and 48 wounded in terror attack and Mayor of London says there is “no reason to be alarmed!”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 4 June 2017
This blatant misrepresentation Of Mr. Khan’s statements by the President is being criticized for its veiled xenophobia. Mr. Khan’s spokesperson gave an astute reply to the U.S President’s tweet saying that Mr. Khan was too busy to reply to Trump’s “ill-informed” tweet.
Sadiq Khan has “more important things to do” than respond to Trump’s tweets, says an aide pic.twitter.com/COH4kxikfM
— Matt Chorley (@MattChorley) 4 June 2017
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Trump is coming under fire for using the whole episode to push his own nationalistic security policies. His tweets indicate his efforts to justify discrimination when it comes to immigration and a tweet also alluded to gun rights.
Do you notice we are not having a gun debate right now? That’s because they used knives and a truck!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 4 June 2017
He seems to have missed the fact that the loss of life was minimized due to the terrorists not having guns. Mr. Trump appears to be of the opinion that the restriction of guns has nothing to do with restricting violent attacks.