Trump deletes Star of David tweet after angry response
The Twitter feed of the presumptive Republican nominee for president drew criticism Saturday after it featured a collage showing Hillary Clinton, a pile of money and the Jewish symbol.
- Ed was a member of the CNET crew that won a National Magazine Award from the American Society of Magazine Editors for general excellence online. He's also edited pieces that've nabbed prizes from the Society of Professional Journalists and others.
Donald Trump's Twitter feed is once again causing outrage.
On Saturday morning, a tweet appeared in Trump's feed calling rival Hillary Clinton the "most corrupt candidate ever" and featuring a photo collage of Clinton against a sea of hundred-dollar bills.
The problem? The "most corrupt" phrase floating alongside Hillary's head was set off by a graphic element shaped like a Star of David.
"Then there is the pièce de résistance: a Star of David screaming that Hillary is corrupt," Esquire writer Peter Wade noted in a post with the headline "WTF Does Trump's Star of David Tweet Mean?" The post continued: "In the background, piles and piles of money, presumably from those corrupt sources (Jews?)."
Wade wasn't the only one asking WTF.
Josh Schwerin, national spokesman for the Hillary for America campaign, tweeted "Why is there a Star of David?" He also retweeted a response he got from a Twitter user with the screen name "rebel rant." That response read, "Because she receives money from big banks, wall street, media, etc, who are run by jews?" To that, Schwerin replied dryly, "Thanks for explaining."
It's not the first time the Twitter presence of the presumptive Republican nominee for president has sparked an outcry. After the Orlando shootings, Trump tweeted, along with condolences, that he appreciated "the congrats for being right on radical Islamic terrorism." Critics called the tweet tone deaf and insensitive.
It's also not the first time a photo collage in Trump's feed has been called into question. In July of last year, Trump's campaign blamed an intern for tweeting a collage that featured a picture of Trump, the American flag and several Nazi soldiers.
During the course of the presidential campaign, Trump has also been criticized for a stumble over distancing himself from supporters in the Ku Klux Klan, for a perceived failure to denounce anti-Semitic actions by members of his fan base, and for comments that nod toward various conspiracy theories.
Later Saturday, the original "most corrupt" tweet had been deleted and replaced by another that swapped out the Star of David element for a circle.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment about its Hillary tweet.
Update, 12:19 p.m. PT: Adds detail.