President Donald Trump on Sunday retweeted a post showing part of a golf cart parade in The Villages in which one supporter shouts, “White power!” at anti-Trump protesters.
The President added: “Thank you to the great people of The Villages. The Radical Left Do Nothing Democrats will Fall in the Fall. Corrupt Joe is shot. See you soon!!!”
Trump retweeted the video before 8 a.m. ET Sunday and deleted his tweet around 11 a.m.
In a statement, Judd Deere, the White House deputy press secretary, did not apologize for the tweet or condemn the racist term but said instead: "President Trump is a big fan of The Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters."
South Carolina's Tim Scott, the only Black Republican senator, called the retweet "indefensible."
"He should not have retweeted," Scott said on CNN Sunday morning.
GOP Sen. Tim Scott on Democrats blocking the Republican police reform bill: "We cannot get something done if the Democrats in the Senate are more interested in presidential politics than they are getting something actually finished this year.” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/254PKECgIS
— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) June 28, 2020
On “State of the Union,” former National Security Advisor John Bolton — a recent Trump critic — said maybe the president wasn’t paying attention, hadn’t watched it all and was just responding to a video showing his supporters. It’s noteworthy that “white power” is shouted in the first 10 seconds of the video.
Trump has previously called out to The Villages on Twitter and promised to visit the sprawling retirement community south of Ocala.
The initial tweet — by @davenewworld_2 — pulled a clip from a longer video posted by https://youtu.be/KLgyJBUaNVg">Villages-News.com. It shows a June 14 parade celebrating Trump’s birthday, Flag Day and law enforcement.
The president's tweet comes at a time of increased racial tension in America, with the killing of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis police custody leading to mass protests against police brutality and for racial justice.
In an NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll conducted a week after Floyd's death, two-thirds of Americans said Trump has mostly increased racial tensions in the country.
In a more recent poll, from The New York Times and Siena College, 61% of voters said they disapproved of Trump's handling of race, while just 33% said they approved.
