Trump Supporters Send Threatening Antisemitic Messages to Journalist Who Profiled Melania
Journalist Julia Ioffe wrote a profile of Melania Trump for GQ Magazine that was actually pretty sympathetic; but Melania didn’t like it. So she took to Facebook and posted a message bashing Ioffe by name.
Donald Trump’s knuckle-dragging followers got the hint.
On Wednesday, GQ published a profile of Melania Trump penned by the journalist Julia Ioffe. Since then, Ioffe has been harassed by Trump supporters sending her anti-Semitic threats like photoshopped images of her wearing a Jude star, and others referencing the Holocaust.
Soon after it was published, Melania Trump released a statement on Facebook expressing her displeasure over the piece. “The article published in GQ today is yet another example of the dishonest media and their disingenuous reporting,” she wrote, adding, “Julia Ioffe, a journalist who is looking to make a name for herself, clearly had an agenda when going after my family.”
Trump supporters were quick to respond, and Ioffe quickly started receiving hateful messages and threatening calls…
Here are a few of Ioffe’s tweets with examples of the kind of vile threats and hatred she received, hidden by default because they’re horrific.
From my inbox. Subject line: “They know about you!” pic.twitter.com/zp3v2GjTeI
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016
Aaaaand there it is. pic.twitter.com/FY6gtQhgva
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016
Good morning, from your neighborhood Trump trolls! pic.twitter.com/tuHa9Wpbn7
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 28, 2016
Ioffe told the Guardian on Thursday that she found the messages extremely disturbing. “I started the day off having a sense of humor about it,” she said, “but by the end of the day, after a few phone calls… with people playing Hitler speeches, and the imagery, and people telling me my face would look good on a lampshade, it’s hard to laugh.”
[…]
For Ioffe, the attacks signify that a Trump presidency would be dangerous for members of the press. “This is not a heavily critical article. There is nothing in it that is untrue,” Ioffe told the Guardian of her piece, adding, “If this is how Trump supporters swing into action what happens when the press looks into corrupt dealings, for example, or is critical of his policies?”