White House Twitter Goes Full Trump, Targets Sen. Kamala Harris For ‘Supporting the Animals of MS-13’
The White House has often strained to contain President Donald Trump‘s brash rhetoric on his own personal Twitter feed, but every so often the vitriol bleeds into official channels that in previous administrations avoided trolling.
On Monday, the White House’s verified Twitter account took a page out of Trump’s book, directly targeting Democratic senators, falsely accusing them of “supporting” violent gangs.
The account typically posts statements on Trump’s achievements as president. On Monday, however, the account began by spreading positive stories about the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency — which is facing calls for its abolition by Democrats — before taking aim at lawmakers themselves.
Addressing Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the account tweeted, “why are you supporting criminals moving weapons, drugs, and victims across our nation’s borders?”
“You must not know what ICE really does,” it added, linking to the Border Enforcement Security Task Force page of ICE’s website.
.@SenWarren, why are you supporting criminals moving weapons, drugs, and victims across our nation’s borders? You must not know what ICE really does. Here is a link to help you out: https://t.co/5CiTKkIs4c
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 2, 2018
The account also targeted Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA), asking “why are you supporting the animals of MS-13?”
.@SenKamalaHarris, why are you supporting the animals of MS-13? You must not know what ICE really does. Here is a link to help you out: https://t.co/kcrNj4aVMU
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 2, 2018
Harris and Warren both called to abolish ICE last week, amidst outrage over the separation of migrant children from their parents at the southern border.
Meanwhile, Trump has frequently used the term “animals” to refer to MS-13 gang members, ever since his use of the term first drew outrage in May.
The president faced criticism from Democrats after he was accused of referring to undocumented immigrants as “animals” in vague comments at a televised roundtable. He later explained that he was referring to MS-13, and has exploited the confusion surrounding his comments to accuse Democrats of supporting the violent gang.
Harris later responded to the White House:
As a career prosecutor, I actually went after gangs and transnational criminal organizations. That's being a leader on public safety. What is not, is ripping babies from their mothers. pic.twitter.com/WyyHU3U7jE
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 2, 2018
[Mediaite]