CNN New Day Blasts Trump’s Black on White Violence Tweet: ‘Overt and Egregious Acts of Extreme Racism’

CNN New Day bravely called out a controversial quote tweet sent by President Donald Trump very early Tuesday morning that depicts an African-American man beating up a white gentleman in what appears to be a department store.

Axios’s Alexi McCammon said frankly  “this is another example of something that President Trump is doing, apparently to fan the flames and sort of, you know, exacerbate these racial tensions that we’re already seeing played out throughout the country. And ‘racial tensions’ is generous. These are overt and egregious acts of extreme racism.”

The video clip is violent, short and presented with very little context, and Trump simply asked “Looks what’s going on here. Where are the protesters? Was this man arrested?”

The source tweet came from Tariq Nasheed, who perhaps ironically calls himself the “the world’s #1 Race Baiter” and says that he “bait[s] racists & expose them-Get involved with our fight for justice.” Nasheed claims in the source video that “man at a store in #Flint allegedly referred to a Black man in the store as a “n***er” while talking on the #phone. The Black man overheard him, then things went left.” This was presented by conservative personality Matt Walsh,  who baselessly claimed a “Macy’s employee” was beaten “because of his race and then slandered him by claiming he said the n-word, which was a lie.”

This was quote-tweeted by Trump:

Looks what’s going on here. Where are the protesters? Was this man arrested? https://t.co/2E1UbU5vNN

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 23, 2020

The video of random black on white violence is certain to draw controversy as the nation goes through a reckoning on race relations as a result of unarmed people of color being killed by an overly aggressive police force, many of whom suffered very little accountability until public outrage and civil unrest spread worldwide. President Trump is literally, and some would say quite irresponsibly, bringing attention to a poorly contexted video clip of a black man violent angry with a white man, punching him over some controversy.

McCammond continued by noting how Trump is “not acknowledging the motivation for the protests, the problems with police brutality, the problems with racism, systemic and systematic. He’s not talking about these broader issues that black Americans are facing.”

The promotion of this sort of interracial, confusing and violent attack, without any context, and with what seems purposely naive questions, will certainly be amplified by both Trump’s base of voters, his media surrogates, and frankly, racists who will see this as an example of the specious claim of “reverse racism” which neglects centuries of prejudice, cruelty and naked injustice throughout many parts of society.

CNN’s decision to address the ostensibly irresponsible tweet has, thus far, set them apart from their competitors. The decision to cover something that seems so nakedly designed to create a racial wedge, during this time of piqued racial tensions, is a difficult one, and New Day producers should be lauded for bravely choosing not to ignore it.

Watch above via CNN.