Actually, according to monstro’s link the earliest iteration of the image seems to be a (now defunct) twitter profile called @FishBoneHead1 who, judging by some of his other tweets that were screen-capped before the account vanished, just seems to be a common-or-garden, brainless twitter troll. The image did, admittedly, make its way onto 8chan, but who knows where else it turned up? Do we know for certain that Trump’s staff definitely got it from an anti-semitic site? And even if they did, why presume they interpreted the use of the star as anti-semitic? Like I said, it doesn’t look much like a Star of David. A Star of David typically isn’t filled in, and it’s never tilted at an angle. I certainly didn’t recognise it as a Star of David.
The idea that Trump, whose daughter is Jewish and who, to the best of my knowledge, has never said a bad word against Israel, knowingly used this poster to insinuate that Clinton is a money-grubbing Jew is just absurdly uncharitable. This whole thing just comes across as a fishing expedition, and it’s exactly the kind of petty, tedious nonsense that turns people off politics.
Either the star was meant to be a symbol or it wasn’t. You can’t just put an image out there and then come up with multiple explanations for what it might represent, as if it’s unknowable what the creator intended to convey. If it’s just as likely to be sheriff star is as a “plain star”, then there is also nothing preventing the Star of David as being a fair interpretation too.
No, she did not, that was alleged by the writer of a book, sure he claimed that he had other witnesses, but the reality was that many did not believe the hatchet writer, Hillary won the New York senate election then.
At the very least, it is concerning that Trump would align himself with people who lack the sophistication to critically review what they release to the public, who don’t realize that it is practically impossible to lift an image from a racist website without the truth coming out within the same news cycle.
It makes me think a saboteur is working on his campaign team.
There are several things preventing the Star of David as being a fair interpretation:
A Star of David is typically made of two clearly delineated overlapping triangles. This one isn’t.
A Star of David is typically not filled in. This one is.
A Star of David is never tilted at an angle, as it is in the poster.
Trump’s daughter is Jewish.
Trump’s policy platform is staunchly pro-Israel.
Trump’s base is also staunchly pro-Israel.
Hillary Clinton isn’t even Jewish, so it doesn’t make any sense to imply that she is.
The most likely explanation is that the person who made the poster just picked a generic star at random off clip-art without thinking twice about it, and someone on Trump’s staff retweeted it without thinking twice about it either. Besides, what exactly does Trump have to gain by using anti-semitic dogwhistles?
I will have to tell you though, that I think it is an even bigger nonsense this late in the game to shrug repeated things like this item coming from Trump.
And yes, what his daughter is gives no less reasons but more reasons why the pressure should be on Trump to stop avoiding the issue and to finally openly repudiate the sorry sources or help he is getting. Notice that I’m not talking about the star, but the source and where the Trump staffers are then looking at for ideas and material.
And Trump also has to explain why instead of removing the image completely he has decided to own it and modifying it when it should be clear that he has no right to do so.
…Unless they are close to the guy that made the image.
The same thing that he got from racists and bigots when he made his tweets against mexicans and posted made up charts about black on white violence and other re-tweets from racists. The support of those racists and bigots.
Firstly, duh, of course I am. It’s Trump. He’s an idiot. I’d cut him slack for thinking the Star of David was Kevin Kline. Secondly, it doesn’t look much like a Star of David. A Star of David typically isn’t filled in, typically consists of two clearly delineated overlapping triangles, and is never tilted at an angle. To say that Trump retweeted the poster intending the star to be a calculated anti-semitic dogwhistle in spite of all these differences, and in spite of Trump’s unwaveringly pro-Israel stance, and the fact that his own daughter is Jewish, is just ridiculously uncharitable. It’s the worst possible interpretation, and I don’t see any reason to accept it.
The most likely explanation is that a person on Trump’s payroll borrowed a image created and circulated by an anti-Semite who regularly uses loaded symbols like this one to speak to like-minded brethren. I think this theory is closer to the truth than your “innocuous clipart” theory is.
Trump riles up his disaffected white male base every time he thumbs his nose at The Inferior/Evil/Ugly Minority of the Week. He strengthens his brand as America’s favorite anti-PC establishment outsider. And most importantly, he gets to complain about the “dishonest media” while at the same time using the media to advertise for his campaign.
He’s running out of dough, so this is how he’s getting attention now.
Again, it is more reason then to apologize and repudiate openly the sources were he got the image from…
Not holding my breath for that one. As it is seeing Trump dumping his “America First” after the defamation league put Trump on notice about the history of that:
What do you mean “repeated”? Trump doesn’t have a history of deploying anti-semitic dogwhistles. If the poster could be interpreted as anti Mexican or anti Muslim I’d agree with you. But anti-semitic? Where’s the precedent for that?
But we don’t know for sure what the source is. All we know is that one of Trump’s staffers posted an image that has turned up (along with countless other pictures) on 8chan. We don’t know that the staffer in question got the image directly from 8chan, or any other anti-semitic website. The worst we can say is that he may have gotten it from an anti-semitic site. Then again, he may not.
Why does the fact that Trump’s team changed the image mean they’re “close” to whoever made it? A far more likely explanation is that they don’t care about the guy who made the image or his “rights”.
The star, for the hundredth time, doesn’t look like a Star of David. A Star of David typically isn’t filled in. This one is. A Star of David is typically comprised of two clearly delineated overlapping triangles. This one isn’t. A Star of David is never tilted. This one is. I can understand why a politician might use loaded symbols but why would a random anti-semite on the internet do so? Why didn’t he just use an actual Star of David? Hell, why doesn’t Hillary have a hook-nose and bag of Jew gold round her neck? It’s not like internet trolls are known for their subtlety.
Trump’s base may be anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim, but they are also staunchly pro-Israel. Trump has literally nothing to gain by baiting the Jews.
Trump has spent the last six months coasting on free publicity. He has no problem getting attention. The guy’s clickbait gold. All he has to do is click his fingers and every reporter in a fifty mile radius is guaranteed to come running. This has been consistently true throughout the campaign. He has no need to gin up publicity by posting cryptic anti-semitic dogwhistles on twitter, especially since his base, by and large, actually like Jews.
Seriously this sort of bullshit is what disgusts more than anything else:
A
“That’s not an A. It’s red and usually I see them as black. I certainly don’t recognize it as an A.”
Absolute complete crap. There is no question that that is a Star of David. The only, and I repeat only, time a star like that (without rounded tips in a Western theme) is used in political propaganda is as a Jewish symbol. And it is used like that by Jewish groups and by hate groups alike often. Filled in and not filled in.
Saying otherwise a thousand times does not make the claim any less absurd and offensive.
Even Trump is not so stupid as to not recognize it.
The Trump campaign’s go-to for material is often White supremacist sites, it’s where his troops spend time.
His daughter … she’s one of the good ones, along with his son-in-law. But great negotiators they are!
As I’ve said in the discussion about this in the main Trump thread, anti-Semitism is not his intended main theme - other Others are the preferred demons of the moment - especially Hispanics and Muslims - but the mindset in the demographic he is selling to does not discriminate: they hate/resent/fear every Other. Sometimes the non-featured Other hate sneaks in.
Point was that the source of that one was also a raging antisemite.
And yes, that the source was anti-Semite was shrugged then by many, it may had a plausible explanation but that was re-tweeted later as it was other tweets from other neo nazis.
Also covered, the sub /pol/ of 8chan, where that was also claimed to come from, is full of racists and antisemitism. With a good number of Poe law followers.
Also mentioned early by me: if that is the case the question should be why Trump is ignoring copyright law. Of course, unless the original creator comes out of hiding, Trump will be OK until someone defends his rights and points out that what Trump did was derivative or a clear alteration of his orignal work.
It’s possible that Trump simply had no idea of the source of the image, or thought thesix pointed star was only a sort of …emphatic…graphic for the corruption label. It’s also possible that he had no idea whoDavid Duke is. And that he didn’t notice the weirdness of the pledge he had people swear, and how a lot of them were holding their arms at an odd angle (likely just holding it up and out to try and make sure he could see the upraised hand, honestly). He probably had no idea that he tweeted a graphic that had Nazi troops inside the American flag. Well, until people pointed it out. Most of his campaign is run by volunteers, and I am sure he had no idea that there were people associated with his campaign - on television - sporting white supremacist ink. He may or may not buy into stereotypes about the Jews - and he may honestly think calling them all great negotiatorsis the highest possible compliment.
It’s coincidental, I have no doubt. At one point does he (or his people) say “Wait, if we want to make sure we’re not seen as anti-Semitic, maybe we should, I dunno, proof stuff before it goes out?” And at what point does it make sense to think “Well, clearly he (or they) have no problem being perceived as anti-Semitic”?
ETA: that image(in blue) is listed in MS Word’s clip art as “FilledStarofDavid”.
