Trump accepts endorsement from conspiracy theorist who claimed Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton were gay
Wayne Allyn Root speaking to Donald Trump supporters at a 2016 campaign rally in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Gage Skidmore/Wikimedia Commons)
President Donald Trump thanked ‘homophobic’ conspiracy theorist Wayne Allyn Root for saying Jewish people love him “like he’s the king of Israel”.
The right-wing TV radio host, who once alleged Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are gay, praised the president for his diplomatic work with Israel.
Trump tweeted out the endorsement amid charges of anti-Semitism after he accused Jewish voters of “disloyalty” if they vote Democrat earlier this week.
What happened?
Blasting Root’s words to more than 63 million Twitter followers, Trump drew immediate backlash.
“President Trump is the greatest president for Jews and for Israel in the history of the world, not just America, he is the best president for Israel in the history of the world,” Root said, according to Trump’s tweet.
“The Jewish people in Israel love him like he’s the king of Israel. They love him like he is the second coming of God.”
Furthermore, Root allegedly said that Trump is “good for all Jews, blacks, gays, everyone”.
This comes despite the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to rescind LGBT+ rights as well as introducing queerphobic policy.
Root called Obama a “Bathhouse Barry”.
Root’s relationship with Trump spans years. He also has a track record in stretched statements and advocating conspiracy theories.
Wayne Allyn Root is a well-known conspiracy theorist who says Obama is a secret gay Muslim; the killer of Heather Heyer was paid by Soros; the Las Vegas shooting was done by Muslims; and Robert Mueller was motivated by ‘penis envy’.
He just got thanked & cited by the president. https://t.co/QQ7a9EmZYn
— Mehdi Hasan (@mehdirhasan) August 21, 2019
In 2017, he claimed Obama was gay and called him a “Bathhouse Barry”.
He then alleged he had info from Obama’s “friends in Chicago” about his “sordid past”, according to Right Wing Watch.
Moreover, he lampooned the press for not investigating Hillary Clinton’s dating history.
Trump claim is “the height of hypocrisy”.
Anti-Defamation League head Johnathon Greenblatt criticised the president in an interview with CNN on Wednesday.
“I will say that it is the height of hypocrisy to use Christian theology to bully Jews and to push out some messianic complex,” Greenblatt said.
“Literally, it’s hard to think of something less kosher than telling the Jewish people you’re the king of Israel. And therefore, we should have some fidelity to you for that reason.
“I don’t know if he’s read the Bible, but in the Old Testament, that’s not what we believe.”
Trump’s efforts to drive a wedge between America Jewish folk and Israel has unfolded across a tense three days.
It ignited after Trump said on Tuesday that any Jewish person who votes for a Democrat is guilty of ignorance or “great disloyalty”, the New York Times reported.
American Jews tend to favour Democrat candidates, with 71% of Jewish voters choosing Democrat candidates since 1968, according to poll data.
This came days after prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, at the president’s request, barred an official visit to Israel by the first two Muslim women in Congress.
The democratic congresspeople – representatives Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and Rashida Tlaib of Michigan – have been critical of Israel’s policies towards Palestinians in the past.
