Trump Tries to Deflect Racism Accusations With Fake Photo of Black Family
Donald Trump just keeps retweeting insane people; white supremacists, racists, conspiracy nuts, you name it. It’s absolutely bizarre that even after all the criticism he’s gotten for this nasty habit, he just continues to do it.
The latest example: this morning he retweeted a photo from a complete raving nut sandwich named @Don_Vito_08, purporting to show an African American family that supports Trump:
Screenshot via BuzzfeedThe nut sandwich in question has now deleted the tweet after it was exposed as a fake — but Trump hasn’t.
But since the original tweet no longer exists, the falsely labeled photo doesn’t appear in Trump’s tweet any more:
“@Don_Vito_08: Thank You Mr. Trump for Standing up for Our Country! #VoteTrump2016 JOIN ME ON THE #TrumpTrain🚂 https://t.co/zgopGvSEen”
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 4, 2016
Buzzfeed points out that the picture originally came from a “Midwest Black Family Reunion” in Ohio, and the family it shows is most decidedly not happy that Trump is using them to try to deflect charges of racism.
BuzzFeed News can reveal the parents in the photograph, pictured at right, are Eddie and Vanessa Perry — and they are not endorsing or publicly supporting any political candidate during the 2016 election.
Eddie Perry, who lives in Cincinnati, told BuzzFeed News his family has previously attended several of the Midwest Black Family Reunion Events and he remembers having his photograph taken last year. “It was no big deal,” he said.
On Saturday morning, however, a friend texted him a screenshot of Trump’s tweet. “When I saw it, I immediately knew it was political propaganda,” he said.
“Why use it without asking for someone’s permission?” he asked. “Why use our image without asking?”
