The White House didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about Trump’s tweet. “The Villages” was trending on Twitter as people seized on the tweet.
The beginning of the video shows demonstrators yelling “racist” and “where’s your white hood” at a man and woman riding in a golf cart adorned with Trump signs. “Yeah you got it,” the man responds, pumping his fist. “White power.”
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Other clips show protesters yelling “f— Trump” and “Nazi” at other Trump supporters driving by in golf carts, a common mode of transport at The Villages, a master-planned community for people over 55.
“The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!” Trump tweeted.
Tim Scott of South Carolina, the only Black Republican in the Senate, said on CNN’s “State of the Union” that the video was offensive and should be taken down.
“I think it’s indefensible. He should take it down,” Scott said.
Also on CNN, John Bolton, the former national security adviser, said he doubted Trump was specifically endorsing the “white power” message, but had been taken in by the sight of people displaying “Trump 2020” signs.
“That’s all he needed to see,” Bolton said. “Not paying attention, not considering all of the implications of information he gets, is typical of Trump.”
‘The Shooting Starts’
Trump has faced criticism about his rhetoric since the protests against police brutality began after Floyd’s death.
In late May, as some of the protests turned violent, Trump tweeted that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts” — a phrase used by a White Miami police chief to threaten civil rights protesters in the 1960s.
Trump said he didn’t know the origin of the phrase, but on June 11 he told an interviewer on Fox News that he heard it from former Philadelphia Police Commissioner and Mayor Frank Rizzo, whose tenure was marked by police violence against black communities.
During his run for a third mayoral term, Rizzo urged people to “vote white.”
(Updates with Scott, Bolton from eighth paragraph.)
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
