Trump retweets, then deletes, video of supporter shouting 'white power'

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump retweeted a video showing one of his supporters in Florida shouting “white power” at protesters of his administration, drawing rebukes from allies and adversaries as protests continue in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death.

The video on Twitter, which was later deleted from the president’s feed, showed Trump protesters and supporters in Florida shouting profanities at each other. After a protester called a Trump supporter a racist, the man responded by raising his fist and shouting, “white power.” The slogan is often used by white supremacists.

“There’s no question that he should not have retweeted it and he should just take it down,” U.S. Senator Tim Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican, told CNN’s “State of the Union” program.

In the tweet, Trump wrote: “Thank you to the great people of The Villages”, a retirement community in Florida he visited last year.

White House spokesman Judd Deere said the president “is a big fan of The Villages. He did not hear the one statement made on the video. What he did see was tremendous enthusiasm from his many supporters.”

The tweet comes on the heels of Trump’s hostile response to protests against racial injustice engulfing the United States following the death of Floyd, an unarmed Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes in Minneapolis.

“It was so profanity laced, the entire thing was offensive. Certainly, the comment about the white power was offensive,” Scott added. “It’s indefensible. We should take it down.”