Once again, Donald Trump is facing major backlash over an insensitive tweet. On Saturday, the presumptive GOP nominee deleted a photo he had tweeted of Hillary Clinton alongside a pile of money and a six-pointed star that said, "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever."
Twitter is forever, @realDonaldTrump [1]. Can't delete and pretend you didn't use the Star of David over money/corrupt. pic.twitter.com/ucDKcegcUQ [2]
— Josh Jordan (@NumbersMuncmarty her) July 2, 2016 [3]
Many pointed out that the star resembled the Star of David, a common symbol in Judaism, and said Trump's message was anti-Semitic.
"Hey, how can we reduce these comparisons to Nazis?"
"Literally label Clinton with a 6-pointed star?"
"works for me" pic.twitter.com/8N6OHXDNhr [4]— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) July 2, 2016 [5]
After the firestorm, Trump tweeted the message again but replaced the star with a circle, denied the accusations, and said the star was a basic design, similar to what sheriff's departments use.
Crooked Hillary -- Makes History! #ImWithYou [6] #AmericaFirst [7] pic.twitter.com/PKQhYhMmIX [8]
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 2, 2016 [9]
Trump issues new statement on Star of David tweet, calling it a "basic star." (Then why did he delete it?) pic.twitter.com/jUXBBaBE87 [10]
— Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) July 4, 2016 [11]
Dishonest media is trying their absolute best to depict a star in a tweet as the Star of David rather than a Sheriff's Star, or plain star!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 4, 2016 [12]
Some reports say the image Trump tweeted was created by white supremacists [13] who have shared other racist images. Clinton's campaign released a statement in response to Trump's tweet [14], saying:
"Donald Trump's use of a blatantly anti-Semitic image from racist websites to promote his campaign would be disturbing enough, but the fact that it's a part of a pattern should give voters major cause for concern. Now, not only won't he apologize for it, he's peddling lies and blaming others. Trump should be condemning hate, not offering more campaign behavior and rhetoric that engages extremists. The president should be someone who brings Americans together, not someone who sends signals and offers policies of division."
The drama has left many wondering if Trump hates Jews — but given his previous record with Jewish people [15] that indicates no malice and the fact that his daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism for her husband, the likely answer is no.
Instead, it looks like Trump and his campaign staffers are careless, oblivious, and ignorant. A man named Marty Kobren shared this post that's been gaining traction on Facebook.
I don't think Donald Trump is an anti-Semite. But this is exactly the kind of incident that makes me think he isn't...
Posted by Marty Kobren [16] on Monday, July 4, 2016 [17]
This isn't the first time Trump has come under fire for inappropriate tweets — it happened after the Orlando, FL, massacre [18], when he talked about taco bowls on Cinco de Mayo [19], and when he sent that misogynistic image comparing his wife, Melania, to Ted Cruz's wife, Heidi [20]. His lack of judgment is just one of the many reasons Trump can't win the general election [21].