President Trump has long been known for his dog whistles to his white supremacist supporters, using coded, but deniable, language to signal that he’s one of them and supports their distorted outlook of the world.
From his there are “some very fine people on both sides” comment after the neo-Nazis killed Heather Heyer, an innocent counterprotester at the racist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia last year to his labeling of Mexican immigrants as rapists and drug dealers, Trump has often worn his xenophobia on his sleeve for all to see.
Sometimes, however, he hides his intentions more subtly, using references to “merit-based” immigration or crime-laden “inner cities” that trigger anti-immigrant and racist sentiments among his base who recognize the reflection of their own antipathy towards immigrants and people of color.
With that in mind, the president’s tweet this morning attacking “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC” has raised accusations of coded anti-semitism from people who recognize the term as one of the distinguishing characteristics that the Nazis used to determine which Germans had Jewish ancestry.
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing. Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2018
Twitter user Stonekettle saw the president’s tweet and responded with an explanation that exposed the heinous and deceptive hidden message Trump may have sent his KKK devotees with his tweet.
I did not know "sleepy eyes" was an anti-Semitic slur.
When I was told such here on Twitter, I went and looked it up.
It is. And it's much worse than that.
1/ https://t.co/jZmMplHrtE— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
That list naturally found it's way to various neo-Nazi, White Supremacist, and other anti-Semitic groups after WWII. "How to spot a jew" is a common search phrase on Google, and the results are hundreds of variations on this list of Nazi-originated criteria.
3/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
While Trump himself may or may not know the origin of the insult and who commonly uses that insult today, it's obvious he surrounds himself with people who use this term openly in the halls of government and business.
5/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
Because this tells you, Citizen, who he surrounds himself with and how utterly shameless they are in their hate and bigotry.
More than anything, this is yet another indicator of just how dangerous and unqualified Trump is to be leader of our nation.
7/7— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
Stonekettle did his research and decoded the dog whistle for those of us not reading right-wing propaganda on a regular basis. There’s not much more to add to his analysis outside of a vehement agreement with his conclusion.
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