A senior campaign advisor to President Donald Trump is coming under heavy fire. Mercedes Schlapp had reportedly re-tweeted a post on Twitter which lauded a man in a viral video from Texas as he yelled the n-word and wielded a chainsaw to chase away anti-racism demonstrators.
From POLITICO:
After POLITICO reached out to her and the campaign Saturday morning, Schlapp then retweeted another account that posted a version of the video that muted the racist slur. After this story published, she removed both her retweets and issued a written apology Saturday evening.
She stated, “I deeply apologize and I retweeted without watching the full video. I deleted the tweet. I would never knowingly promote the use of that word. This is time for healing the nation and not division.”
As Fox News told:
Schlapp is a prominent figure in the conservative movement as her husband, Matt, serves as head of the organization that organizes the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) every year. She previously served as the White House Director of Strategic Communications but left in 2019 to work on the president’s re-election campaign. The incident will likely pour fuel onto an already raging fire surrounding race relations.
Last week she announced, “Joe Biden supported the mass incarceration of black and Hispanic communities and has failed to lift them out of poverty.” Plus added, “In stark contrast, President Trump has delivered unprecedented opportunity for black Americans.”
But executive director of the Florida Democratic Party Juan Penalosa claimed, “The Trump campaign strategy has always been to win through division. But Mercedes’ tweet shows they are taking it to the next level.”
And argued, “While most of us are having honest discussions on how to expose racism and eliminate it — the Trump campaign has moved beyond their 2016 dog whistles and passive nods to fringe racist groups. Now they are giving racists a platform, retweeting them and actively amplifying their message. It makes my skin crawl.”
Schlapp’s explanation doesn’t really fly here. Social media account managers must be responsible for the material that they share.
