President Donald Trump posted a tweet on Sunday that attacked “Democrat cities” and requested for them to be left to “rot.”
Originally shared by Brandon Straka, the tweet was a commentary on footage of protesters in New York City shouting at drivers. Straka, who describes himself as a “former liberal and former Democratic party supporter who has very publicly walked away from the political left,” blamed Democrats of awakening a mental illness that had destroyed America’s metropolises.
Leave Democrat cities. Let them rot. The media and @TheDemocrats have activated this mental illness and it’s going to get more and more people hurt and killed. #WalkAway from the radical left. And do it quickly. https://t.co/BIAZliK1Tf
— Brandon Straka (@BrandonStraka) August 16, 2020
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In 2018, Straka rejected liberalism in a trending Facebook video that described Democrats as “an ambitious, misinformed and dogmatic mob.” That same year, he discovered the #WalkAway Campaign, a self-described grassroots operation that motivates people to leave the Democratic Party. Straka also gained notoriety in June for his removal from American Airlines Flight 1263, from New York City to Dallas, after refusing to wear a face mask.
Many voices across social media evaluated Trump’s decision to retweet Straka Let Them Rot, referring to the act unpresidential.
If Obama had retweeted someone saying ‘leave Republican states. Let them rot’ it would have been a multi-week, multi-month political scandal requiring clarifications and apologies from every top Dem. With Trump, it won’t even register in *today’s* headlines.#imagineifObamadidit https://t.co/Y8vvITaPHQ
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 16, 2020
"Trump tells his 85 million Twitter followers that cities with Democratic mayors, home to 43mln Americans, should be 'let to rot'" is not a headline I'm seeing in major news outlets, and that's a problem.
— Dan Murphy (@bungdan) August 16, 2020
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Oddly, the same media apparatus that questioned Barack Obama’s patriotism because he commented on the power of guns and religion in rural America has nothing to say when Donald Trump suggests we let American cities rot.
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) August 16, 2020
Straka’s rhetoric bears similarities to a previous rant by Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who quarreled that America’s cities have been ruined by liberal elites who need to have their passports confiscated before they try to escape the country.
How do @GOP voters living in Democrat-controlled cities feel about the strategy your leader in D.C. just endorsed: “Leave Democrat cities. Let them rot.” Maybe you should vote #BidenHarris2020 this time round
— Keith Devlin (@profkeithdevlin) August 16, 2020
Donald Trump—who retweeted someone saying “Leave Democrat cities. Let them rot”—is not and never was the president of the entire United States of America. He abdicated that role from the beginning.
— Steven Beschloss (@StevenBeschloss) August 17, 2020
