Overnight, as part of a series of hate-speech retweets from a leader of the white nationalist Britain First party in the UK, Donald Trump posted a video that showed an alleged assault by a Muslim immigrant. Titled “Muslim migrant beats up Dutch boy on crutches!” the video shows a young man with dark hair dressed in T-shirt and jeans talking to a tall blond young man who is leaning on a crutch. After exchanging a few words, the first man takes a series of wild swings at the other, then kicks him after he hits the ground.
That Donald Trump is so desperate to show a Muslim being “evil” that he would turn to running 30 second clips provided by the British equivalent of the Nazi Party demonstrates just how far he’ll go to demonstrate his hate. Trump’s actions drew the disgust of UK Prime Minister Theresa May.
And that was before a pair of Dutch websites confirmed that not only was Trump’s tweet odious, it was also fake news.
The “Muslim migrant” in the video was later found by authorities and was neither a migrant, nor indeed a Muslim.
But Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders is not about to let a little thing like the truth get in her way—after all, it’s never bothered her before.
"Whether it's a real video, the threat is real. His goal is to promote strong border security and strong national security."
What threat? The threat that Muslim immigrants will beat up Dutch boys on crutches? Huckabee’s defense of Trump’s asinine action makes it clear that it’s the hate that counts. Trump didn’t post the video to illustrate any specific danger, just to spread general hate speech about Muslims.
The video is a fake. And what the video represents isn’t a “threat.” It’s propaganda to suggest that all Muslims are violent and cruel.
It is a clear example of hate speech which exists to encourage violence and division.
And that’s what Huckabee Sanders is confirming in her statement—Donald Trump doesn’t care about the truth. So long as you’re afraid. So long as you hate.