President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the BOK Center, Saturday, June 20, 2020, in Tulsa. Photo / AP
President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the BOK Center, Saturday, June 20, 2020, in Tulsa. Photo / AP
Donald Trump has been criticised for sharing videos of white Americans being attacked by black men, and asking "where are the protesters?" just days after a campaign speech peppered with racial stereotypes raised fears that race will be weaponised in this year's US election.
The US president took to Twitterto retweet a video of a white employee being assaulted at a Macy's store in Michigan.
In that incident, the attacker's brother alleged that the employee used a racial slur prior to the assault.
Macy's denied the claim, saying the attack was "unprovoked".
Trump retweeted the video, saying: "Looks what's going on here. Where are the protesters?"
He also retweeted a message from another account which asked "Where are the protests for this?" alongside a video of a black man pushing a white woman into the side of the subway car.
"So terrible!" Trump commented.
Trump was criticised for sharing the videos. Photo / AP
The tweets come after Trump made thinly veiled references to race in his recent Tulsa campaign speech.
In the rambling speech, delivered to an underwhelming audience, Trump referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as "thugs" and said that the recent movement to topple Confederate statues was an assault on "our heritage".
Addressing calls to defund the police, Trump hypothesised about a situation where a criminal "hombre" broke into a home.
"It's 1 o'clock in the morning and a very tough — you know I've used the word on occasion, 'hombre' — a very tough 'hombre' is breaking into the window of a young woman whose husband is away as a traveling salesman or whatever he may do," he said.
"And you call 911 and they say, 'I'm sorry, this number is no longer working."
Trump was slammed for sharing the racially charged videos, with one critic stating that the President's messages on race were no longer "dogwhistles" but had become a "bullhorn".
"Trump is seizing on and amplifying random, anomalous instances of interracial violence, needlessly inflaming racial tensions at a moment of polarisation and social upheaval," wrote another.
"This is abhorrent and irresponsible. His subordinates and children know this and should say so."
Very cool that the so-called "least racist person in history" is currently spending his evening tweeting out videos of random black men attacking white people. https://t.co/1LMikDf7uR
— Conor Rogers 🏴☠️🇺🇸🏳️🌈 (@conorjrogers) June 23, 2020
Trump is seizing on and amplifying random, anomolous instances of interracial violence, needlessly inflaming racial tensions at a moment of polarization and social upheaval. This is abhorrent and irresponsible. His subordinates and children know this and should say so. https://t.co/p6g8h50jJX
