There’s a history of white supremacists interpreting government leaders’ words as encouragement
White supremacist and militia organizations are exploiting the government’s chaotic response to the coronavirus for recruitment efforts.
Whatever his intention, these groups interpret President Donald Trump’s tweets to “LIBERATE” states and calling armed protesters “very good people” as support for their cause.
Recent research by the Tech Transparency Project into social media accounts of white supremacists, a nonprofit that researches “the influence of the major technology platforms” on politics, policy and people’s lives, found that “some members of private … Facebook groups reacted to the president’s rhetoric (about lockdown protests) with memes of celebration.”
The white supremacists’ response reflects the United States’ history of local, state and national political leaders encoura...