在呼吁种族公正的历史性全国抗议中，总统唐纳德·特朗普上周日转发了一段视频，视频显示一名支持者大喊“白色力量!”
随后，三个多小时后，数千条评论被删除，白宫发表声明称总统“没有听到”支持者所说的话。
令人吃惊的是，这只是总统在11月大选前利用其庞大的社交媒体将种族主义信息放大到其政治基础的一部分的最新例子。
2020年7月2日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在华盛顿白宫的新闻发布会上发言。埃文·武契/美联社
一位批评者表示，特朗普、他的竞选团队和盟友推动种族煽动性语言，然后在遭到广泛愤怒后，声称自己无知，这是一种日益增长的模式的一部分。
哈佛肯尼迪学院公共政策教授、《黑人共和党人的孤独》一书的作者利亚·赖特·里格厄称这种模式“很方便”
“如果是真的无知，我们就不会看到这种情况反复发生，我们也不会看到同类有针对性的转发、推文评论等。所以，当他们再次发现自己处于他们经常处于的位置时，这似乎只是一个非常方便的防御手段，”里格厄告诉美国广播公司新闻。
在他转发“白人权力”视频几天后，尽管他自己的共和党成员也提出了批评，总统仍未谴责他宣扬的种族主义信息。
白宫表示删除这条微博就足够了。
白宫新闻秘书凯丽·麦克纳尼周一在接受福克斯新闻采访时表示:“总统在视频的那一部分没有听到这句话，当有人向他暗示这句话就在那里时，他就把那条推记了下来。”他还补充说，总统分享了带有种族主义措辞的视频，是为了“与经常被妖魔化的支持者站在一起”。"
这种模式超越了总统自己的言行。
6月初，特朗普的高级竞选顾问、前白宫助理梅塞德斯·施拉普(Mercedes Schlapp)在她的推特页面上分享了一段令人不安的视频，视频中一名男子挥舞着电锯，一边驱赶抗议乔治·弗洛伊德(George Floyd)在明尼阿波利斯被警方拘留期间遇害的示威者，一边大喊一个n字。
施拉普后来声称，她没有听到视频中立即出现的种族主义语言。
施拉普在对美国广播公司新闻的声明中说:“我深表歉意，我没有看完整个视频就转发了。”。
脸谱网上个月删除了多条特朗普竞选广告，这些广告的符号类似于纳粹在集中营里用来表示政治犯、自由主义者和共产主义者等的符号。
就在总统分享“白人权力”视频的两天后，特朗普的竞选高级顾问卡特里娜·皮尔森(Katrina Pierson)周二在她的个人Instagram账户上发布了一个种族主义迷因，称明尼苏达州民主党众议员伊尔汉·奥马尔(Ilhan Omar)为“恐怖分子”，他是第一个当选国会议员的索马里难民
在照片中，奥马尔说她讨厌特朗普，总统回答说，“大多数恐怖分子都讨厌。”
特朗普竞选团队没有回应置评请求。
2020年6月18日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在华盛顿白宫国家餐厅的圆桌讨论会上使用手机。亚历克斯·王/盖蒂图像公司
这一切都发生在特朗普之后，在5月底，在乔治·弗洛伊德抗议活动最激烈的时候，他在推特上写道，“刚刚和州长蒂姆·沃兹通了话，告诉他军方一直支持他，”他继续说道，“任何困难，我们都会控制，但是，当抢劫开始时，枪击就开始了。”
“抢劫开始，枪击开始”这句话起源于1967年，当时正值民权运动的高潮，当时迈阿密警察局长沃尔特·海德利(Walter Headley)用这句话来谈论这个种族隔离城市的暴力犯罪。
据《迈阿密先驱报》报道，他夸口说迈阿密没有“面临严重的民众起义和抢劫问题，因为我已经让这个词过滤了，当抢劫开始时，枪击就开始了”。
海德利因对有色人种社区采取诸如截停搜身和使用巡逻犬等政策而闻名。
当被问及为什么使用同样的短语时，特朗普说他不知道它的历史。“这句话我已经听了很久了。我不知道它来自哪里，也不知道它来自哪里，”特朗普说，并补充道，“我也从许多其他地方听说过。但是，和大多数人一样，我已经听了很久了。”
推特在他的推特上发布了一条警告，称其“违反了关于美化暴力的推特规则”但它没有被社交媒体公司撤下，因为据推特称，“保持推特的可访问性可能符合公众利益。”
2020年6月20日，美国总统唐纳德·特朗普在俄克拉荷马州塔尔萨的博克中心的竞选集会上发表讲话。尼古拉斯·卡姆/法新社通过盖蒂图片
“美国民主”的执行董事查尔斯·张伯伦告诉美国广播公司新闻，他相信特朗普和他的盟友正在加倍努力传递种族主义信息，以便接触到在他的总统任期内一直支持他的核心支持者群体，他说“这种联盟是由种族主义和恐惧推动的。”
张伯伦说这是特朗普在2016年获胜的关键原因。
“他们能够动员共和党内的种族主义基础，”他说，认为这仍然是他们2020年战略的核心部分。
据报道，最近的争议发生时，特朗普的平均投票率显示他在全国范围内比前副总统乔·拜登低9个百分点五点三十八分。
在最近纽约时报/锡耶纳民意调查拜登领先特朗普14个百分点，50%的登记选民表示，如果选举在今天举行，他们会支持特朗普。
在同一次投票中，拜登在少数族裔选民中遥遥领先。黑人选民压倒性地支持拜登，支持率为79%，而特朗普为5%。对于西班牙裔和拉丁裔选民，拜登目前的得票率为64%，特朗普为25%。
但是，除了在他的基础上强化种族主义观点，这种信息似乎很难赢得他需要的新选民。
与张伯伦不同，里格尔说她不认为发送种族主义信息——然后声称无知——是激励基层的策略的一部分，但她坚持认为，这是“他直觉的反映”
她认为，在紧张的选举中，种族主义的语言让那些支持特朗普的黑人选民更难为他辩护。
里格厄说:“特朗普的黑人支持者甚至在社交媒体上也无法解释清楚这一点，这就证明了这一点，所以这真的很难，尤其是很难推销。”。“我认为，你知道，这种差异或不和谐，实际上对2020年的选举非常重要。你不再有保险了。”
这些煽动性的言论还可能在他的坚定支持者和支持总统某些政策的温和选民之间制造裂痕，因为当美国正处于对种族问题进行自我反省的时刻时，一些人可能会担心与这些信息有关联。
张伯伦说，这些事件并不仅限于总统在椭圆形办公室的时间，他说这些事件发生在2016年总统竞选期间。
“他从质疑奥巴马总统的出生证明这样的口哨声开始，到公然的种族主义攻击，比如说墨西哥移民是强奸犯和罪犯。这就是他开始竞选的方式。然后在过去的四年里，我们所看到的是越来越多的这种情况。...张伯伦说:“我不会称之为模式，我会称之为特朗普总统任期的基础。
2015年11月，当时的候选人特朗普转发了一张犯罪统计数据不准确的照片，显示了“黑人对黑人”的不同犯罪率，这经常被吹捧为对黑人生活问题运动的反驳。
在接受福克斯新闻主持人比尔·奥雷利采访时，特朗普说，“我要检查每一项统计数据吗?特朗普继续说道:“顺便说一句，我收到了成千上万的人@realdonaldtrump，只是转发，不是我发的。”
2016年10月19日，在拉斯维加斯大学校园托马斯&马克中心举行的最后一场总统辩论中，希拉里·克林顿看着唐纳德·特朗普讲话。马克·罗尔斯顿/法新社通过盖蒂影像公司
2016年7月，特朗普在推特上发布了一张希拉里·克林顿的照片，照片背景是现金，旁边是大卫的红星，上面写着“有史以来最腐败的候选人”
这条推文被指责为反犹太主义，后来被删除了。然后它又被推了出来，没有大卫之星。批评家说，将金钱和《大卫之星》这两个形象联系起来是对反犹太比喻的肯定，即犹太人只关心金钱。
随后，希拉里·克林顿2016年竞选活动的犹太外联主任在一份声明中表示，“唐纳德·特朗普利用种族主义网站上的公然反犹形象来宣传自己的竞选活动，这已经够令人不安的了，但这是一种模式的一部分，这一事实应该让选民感到担忧。”
特朗普竞选团队随后没有立即回复美国广播公司新闻进行评论。然而，特朗普后来告诉美国有线电视新闻网，“希拉里·克林顿(Hillary Clinton)试图将大卫之星与一个基本明星联系起来的这些虚假攻击，经常被处理罪犯和犯罪行为的治安官使用，展示了一个写有‘歪希拉里是有史以来最腐败的候选人’的反犹太主义的铭文，这是荒谬的。"
2019年11月7日，小唐纳德·特朗普出现在美国广播公司的《风景》。卢·罗科/沃尔特·迪斯尼电视台
总统的长子也因他自己的社交媒体帖子引发争议。
在民主党初选期间，唐纳德·特朗普发布了一条推特，质疑卡马拉·哈里斯参议员的竞选以及她是否是“美国黑人”她的许多支持者和其他候选人对此表示强烈反对，他们称这条微博是种族主义的，是丑陋的。
小特朗普的一名发言人在2019年6月告诉美国广播公司新闻，“唐的推特只是问他卡马拉·哈里斯是不是半个印度人，因为这不是他以前听过的事情。”
“一旦他看到人们误解了他的推文的意图，他很快就删除了，”这位发言人说。
作为对总统转发的“白人权力”的回应，美国广播公司新闻撰稿人约翰·科恩(John Cohen)说，“他倾向于发布或说一些不准确、煽动性的东西，有时甚至可能是危险的，因为它们会煽动人们使用暴力。”
科恩告诉美国广播公司新闻，如果总统和他的盟友只是这样做一次，这可能被视为一个错误。“白宫多次模仿白人至上主义思想领袖的语言和言辞，”他说。
过去的一周，就在转发“白人权力”视频几天后，特朗普继续煽动种族紧张关系。周三，他抨击纽约市市长比尔·德·布拉西奥计划在特朗普大厦外的街道上画出“黑色生命至关重要”的字样，称其为“仇恨的象征”，并表示“也许”警方可能会阻止此事的发生。
总统在推特上回应了一次采访，在采访中，纽约黑人生活重要分会主席霍克·纽瑟姆说，说“如果这个国家没有给我们想要的东西，那么我们将烧毁这个系统，取而代之。”
特朗普回应称这是“叛国”
尽管总统通过转发和转发发出的种族信息能否奏效还有待观察，但许多公司已经支持了“黑色生命”运动，并通过社交媒体活动宣布了他们的支持。
Why do Trump and allies repost racist messaging and will it help his reelection effort?
Amid historic nationwide protests calling for racial justice, PresidentDonald Trumpretweeted a video last Sunday showing a supporter yelling "white power!"
Then, more than three hours and thousands of views later, the tweet was deleted and the White House issued a statement claiming the president "did not hear" what the supporter could clearly be heard saying.
As startling as it was, it was only the latest instance of the president using his vast social media presence to magnify racist messaging to a segment of his political base, ahead of the November election.
One critic says it's part of a growing pattern on the part of Trump, his campaign and allies to push racially inflammatory language and then, after widespread outrage, claim ignorance.
Leah Wright Rigueur, professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School and author of "The Loneliness of the Black Republican," calls that pattern "convenient."
"If it was actual ignorance, we wouldn't see this happening repeatedly and we also wouldn't see the same kind of targeted type of retweets, tweeting commentary, etc. So, it just seems like a very convenient shield as defense to use, when once again they find themselves in the position that they're often in," Rigueur told ABC News.
Days after he retweeted the "white power" clip, despite criticism from even members of his own Republican Party, the president had yet to condemn the racist message he had promoted.
The White House said deleting the tweet was enough.
"The president did not hear that phrase in that portion of the video, and when it was signaled to him that this was in there he took that tweet down, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in a Fox News interview on Monday, adding that the president shared the video featuring the racist phrase to "stand with his supporters who are oftentimes demonized."
The pattern goes beyond the president's own words and actions.
Earlier in June, senior Trump campaign adviser and former White House aide Mercedes Schlapp shared a disturbing video on her Twitter page featuring a man wielding a chainsaw and yelling the n-word while chasing away demonstrators protesting the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
Schlapp later claimed she did not hear the racist language that appears immediately in the clip.
"I deeply apologize and I retweeted without watching the full video," Schlapp said in a statement to ABC News.
And Facebook last month removed multiple Trump campaign ads that featured symbols similar to those used by Nazis in concentration camps to denote political prisoners, liberals and communists, among others.
Just two days after the president shared the "white power" video, Trump campaign senior adviser Katrina Pierson posted a racist meme on her personal Instagram account on Tuesday that called Rep. Ilhan Omar, a Minnesota Democrat and the first Somali refugee elected to Congress, a "terrorist."
In the image, Omar is featured saying she hates Trump, with the president replying, "most terrorists do."
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
All this comes after Trump, in late May, at the height of the George Floyd protests, tweeted, "Just spoke to Governor Tim Walz and told him that the Military is with him all the way," he continued, "Any difficulty and we will assume control but, when the looting starts, the shooting starts."
The phrase "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" originated in 1967, at the height of the civil rights movement, when Miami Police Chief Walter Headley used it speaking about violent crime in the segregated city.
He boasted that Miami hadn't "faced serious problems with civil uprisings and looting because I've let the word filter down that when the looting starts, the shooting starts," according to the Miami Herald.
Headley became known for bearing down particularly hard on communities of color with policing policies such as stop-and-frisk and use of patrol dogs.
When asked why he used the same phrase, Trump said he wasn't aware of its history. "I've heard that phrase for a long time. I don't know where it came from or where it originated," Trump said, adding, "I've also heard from many other places. But, I've heard it for a long time, as most people have."
Twitter placed a warning on his tweet, saying it "violated the Twitter Rules about glorifying violence." But it was not taken down by the social media company because, according to Twitter, it "may be in the public's interest for the Tweet to remain accessible."
Charles Chamberlain, executive director of Democracy for America, told ABC News he believes Trump and his allies are doubling down on racist messaging in order to reach a core group of supporters who've backed him throughout his presidency, saying "that coalition is fueled by racism and fear."
Chamberlain said it's a key reason Trump won in 2016.
"They were able to mobilize the racist base in the Republican Party," he said, arguing it continues to be a central part of their strategy in 2020.
The recent controversies come as Trump's polling averages show him down 9 points nationally to former Vice President Joe Biden, according toFiveThirtyEight.
In a recentNew York Times/Siena poll, Biden leads Trump by 14-points, with 50% of registered voters saying they would support him if the election were held today.
In that same poll, Biden has a commanding lead among minority voters. Black voters overwhelmingly support Biden at 79%, while Trump is at 5%. For Hispanic and Latino voters, Biden currently sits at 64% while Trump at 25%.
But beyond reinforcing racist views within his base, the messaging would seem to have little chance of winning over new voters he needs.
Unlike Chamberlain, Rigueur says she doesn't think sending racist messages -- and then claiming ignorance -- is a part of a strategy to energize the base but rather, she maintains, it's "a reflection [of] his gut instincts."
And in a tight election, she argues, the racist language makes it harder for those Black voters who do support Trump to defend him moving forward.
"There's no amount of explaining away that a Black supporter of Trump can do even on social media, that would justify that, so it makes it really hard, especially makes it a really hard sell," Rigueur said. "I think that, you know, that discrepancy or that dissonance, is actually going to be really important moving into the 2020 election. You don't have coverage anymore."
These inflammatory comments also could drive a wedge between his staunch supporters and the moderate voters who back some of the president's policies, as some may be wary about being associated with such messages when the country is in a moment of soul searching on issues of race.
Chamberlain said these incidents aren't exclusive to the president's time in the Oval Office, saying they happened during his 2016 presidential campaign.
"He started with dog whistles like questioning (President Barack) Obama's birth certificate, to outright racist attacks like calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. That's how he started his campaign. Then over the last four years all we've seen is more and more of that. ... I wouldn't call it a pattern, I would call it the foundation of the Trump presidency," said Chamberlain.
In November 2015, then-candidate Trump, retweeted a photo of inaccurate crime statistics showing a disparate rate of "black-on-black" crime, which has often been touted as a retort to the Black Lives Matter movement.
In an interview with then Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, Trump said, "Am I going to check every statistic? I get millions and millions of people @realdonaldtrump by the way," Trump continued, "All it was is a retweet, it wasn't from me."
In July 2016, Trump tweeted a photoshopped image of Hillary Clinton in front of a background of cash, juxtaposed to a red Star of David, reading "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever."
The tweet was blasted as anti-Semitic and then later deleted. It was then tweeted again without the Star of David. Critics said linking the two images of money and the Star of David were a nod to the anti-Semitic trope that Jewish people only care about money.
Then Hillary Clinton's Director of Jewish Outreach for her 2016 Campaign said in a statement that "Donald Trump's use of a blatantly anti-Semitic image from racist websites to promote his campaign would be disturbing enough, but the fact that it's a part of a pattern should give voters major cause for concern."
The Trump campaign then did not immediately reply to ABC News for comment. However, Trump later told CNN that, "These false attacks by Hillary Clinton trying to link the Star of David with a basic star, often used by sheriffs who deal with criminals and criminal behavior, showing an inscription that says 'Crooked Hillary is the most corrupt candidate ever' with anti-Semitism is ridiculous.'"
The president's eldest son is also sparking controversy with his own social media posts.
During the Democratic primary, Donald Trump Jr. posted a tweet questioning Sen. Kamala Harris' race and whether she was an "American Black." It was met with widespread backlash by many of her supporters and fellow candidates who called the tweet racist and ugly.
A spokesman for Trump Jr. told ABC News in June 2019 that "Don's tweet was simply him asking if it was true that Kamala Harris was half-Indian because it's not something he had ever heard before."
"And once he saw that folks were misconstruing the intent of his tweet he quickly deleted it," the spokesman said.
In response to the president's "white power" retweet, John Cohen, an ABC News contributor who previously served as acting undersecretary for intelligence at the Department of Homeland Security, said, "he has a tendency to post or say things that are either inaccurate, inflammatory and sometimes they can even be dangerous because they incite people to violence."
Cohen told ABC News that if the president and his allies just did this one time, it could be seen as a mistake. "This White House has on multiple occasions mimicked the language and rhetoric of white supremacist thought leaders," he said.
This past week, just days after retweeting the "white power" video, Trump continued to inflame racial tensions. On Wednesday, he blasted New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio's plan to paint the words "Black Lives Matter" on the street outside Trump Tower, calling it a "symbol of hate" and said that "maybe" the police might stop it from happening.
The president responded on Twitter to an interview in which Hawk Newsome, president of the Greater New York City Black Lives Matter chapter,said, "If this country doesn't give us what we want, then we will burn down this system and replace it."
Trump responded by calling that "Treason."
While it remains to be seen whether the president's racial messaging through retweets and reposting will work, many corporations have backed the Black Lives Matter movement, announcing their support -- via social media campaigns.
