On Monday morning, New York Times contributor Wajahat Ali strained to connect President Donald Trump to the white supremacist terrorist who shot up two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. He insisted that Trump is actually a white supremacist, because he referred to illegal immigration as an “invasion” and warned that someone might be funding the caravans, perhaps George Soros.
MSNBC Live anchor Stephanie Ruhle ran a video with acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney arguing that Trump is not a white supremacist.
“Mulvaney said he’s not a white supremacist but it’s important to note he does promote white supremacist conspiracy theories,” Ali said. “The midterm elections happened in October and President Trump doubled down on the George Soros conspiracy theory which stems from the ideological infrastructure of white supremacists around the world saying that rich billionaire Jews are bringing in a caravan of invaders.”
Ali explained the conspiracy theory, that “Mexicans, immigrants, Muslims, black people [enter the country] to weaken and subordinate white men. That is exactly the message that President Trump promoted, the Soros conspiracy theory that comes from white supremacist circles that has been used in Hungary and Poland against Jews and Muslims and immigrants. That’s what Donald Trump promoted.”
The New York Times contributor also quoted the New Zealand terrorist’s manifesto, in which the mosque shooter called Trump “a renewed symbol of white identity” who “shares a common purpose with me.”
“Why does a terrorist share a common purpose with the president of the United States of America, Stephanie? That’s the question I have,” Ali pressed.
The New York Times writer did not take a second to question whether or not the terrorist would claim such a thing despite it being entirely false. He did not note that a murdering terrorist might also be a liar in this regard, or the fact that the terrorist explicitly said he wanted to start a civil war in the United States. Ali was indeed playing into the terrorist’s desire to divide Americans through propaganda.
Building on Ali’s remarks, Ruhle ran a video showing Trump using the word “invasion,” a word the terrorist used repeatedly in his manifesto.
We’re on track for a million illegal aliens to rush our borders. People hate the word invasion but that’s what it is. We have to get rid of drugs and gangs and people. It’s an invasion. We have an invasion of drugs and criminals coming into our country. That we stop, but it’s very hard to stop. No nation can allow its borders to be overrun and that’s an invasion. I don’t care what they say. I don’t care what the fake media says. That’s an invasion of our country.
Ruhle pushed back on Trump’s claims, noting that the MS-13 gang started in Los Angeles and that drugs cross the border at legal ports of entry.
Ali seized on the word “invasion.”
“You know who else used the word invasion?” the New York Times contributor asked. “The New Zealand domestic terrorist, he used it several times in his manifesto.”
Ali didn’t stop there. “Do you know who else used the word invasion in October while Donald Trump was saying it? Robert Bowers, the man who walked into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and shot and killed 11 people. Why? Because he wanted to punish the invaders who were coming to this country.”
“Specifically he reposted a post on Gab that said he wants to punish filthy evil Jews for bringing in filthy evil Muslims. Why is it all connected and why is President Trump promoting the white supremacist theories?” Ali asked.
Some have pushed the theory that George Soros has funded the migrant caravans, a theory for which there is no evidence. However, Soros has funded many organizations dedicated to promoting illegal immigrants within the country, and it could be argued that his work incentivizes migrants to come to the United States.
As for Trump, he did not specifically endorse the theory. In October 2018, a reporter asked him, “Do you think somebody is funding the caravan?”
The president responded, “I wouldn’t be surprised, yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised.”
The reporter pressed, “George Soros?”
“I don’t know who, but I wouldn’t be surprised,” Trump responded. “A lot of people say yes.”
Was Trump promoting a “George Soros white supremacist conspiracy theory?” The president suggested it could be true, but he made no definitive statement.
Furthermore, George Soros is a prolific billionaire donor. He has contributed to hundreds of organizations with far-Left causes. Criticism of Soros’s funding is perfectly legitimate, and need have nothing to do with his Jewish heritage. Yet liberals have seized on that heritage, baselessly slamming Soros critics as “anti-Semitic.”
Had Trump explicitly blamed Soros, connected the donor to Jews in general, and then explicitly defended white people against those of other races, Wajahat Ali might have a point. The president did none of these things.
As for the word “invasion,” this attack barely merits a response. When illegal immigrants enter a sovereign country in large numbers, that seems like an “invasion” to the country accepting the migrants, even though it is not officially sanctioned by a foreign government and is not truly an invasion. The emphasis on “invasion” as if it were a dog whistle to white supremacy is ridiculous.
Trump has made it clear, over and over again, that his problem is illegal immigration, not mere immigration and not any racial immigration.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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