Former President Donald Trump is getting some pushback from the left and even from some members of his own party for sharing a meme that apparently was encouraging Americans to rise up and declare “civil war” over the Biden administration’s failure to restrain rising inflation.
The latest brouhaha started when Trump shared a post that was originally uploaded to a Truth Social. Truth Social is the social media site that was set up by the former president himself after he was banned from mainstream platforms in the wake of the January 6 attack over fears he might incite further violence.
The civil war comment, written by user “MAGA King Thanos,” was in response to a screenshot of a March 20 tweet by El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, which was shared by former CBS News correspondent turned right-wing conspiracy theorist Lara Logan.
In a tweet in question, Bukele wrote, “The most powerful country in the world is falling so fast, that it makes you rethink what are the real reasons. Something so big and powerful can’t be destroyed so quickly, unless the enemy comes from within.”
Bukele’s tweet cited a Bloomberg op-ed headlined “Inflation Stings Most If You Earn Less Than $300K. Here’s How to Deal.”
The post that Trump reshared captured the Truth Social user’s comment on Bukele’s tweet, which was headlined “Civil War.”
As you might imagine, Trump’s sharing of MAGA King Thanos’ comment, including the original tweet, got the left’s and the usual “RINO’s” panties in a bunch
The anti-Trump political group MeidasTouch tweeted, “The disgraced, twice-impeached former president just shared a post from another user on his social media platform calling for Civil War. This is beyond dangerous.”
Democratic California Congressman Eric Swalwell said: “Donald Trump is calling for Civil War. Of course, like Vietnam and the walk to the Insurrection, he won’t be man enough to fight it.”
George Conway, a lawyer and another frequent Trump critic who also is married to former White House counselor Kellyanne Conway, tweeted: “Nothing to see here. Just a former president of the United States sharing a social media post advocating or predicting civil war in the United States. No biggie.”
And one of only two Republicans on the Jan. 6. committee, Illinois Rep. Adam Kinzinger, one of the most vocal critics of the former president in the GOP, also condemned Trump for appearing to advocate for civil war in the US
“Any of my fellow Republicans wanna speak out now? Or are we just wanting to get through ‘just one more election first…? Kinzinger tweeted.
But let’s get real here people.
One, inflation does suck. Two, Bloomberg’s “solutions” that the original poster picked up on were absolutely ridiculous, and most importantly, there really was nothing in the original post or Mr. Trump’s sharing of it that “called for civil war.” What it did was call out the Biden administration for doing nothing to ease the pain that rampant inflation is inflicting on America.
As to Trump’s motivation for sharing the post, it probably has much less to do with his desire to “burn down the country,” as some have said, and more to do with stoking the flames of controversy to get more eyeballs on his fledgling social media outlet.
In fact, just as everyone was getting upset about the “civil war” reshare on Truth Social, Trump took to the social media company he founded to claim Elon Musk had told a lie and that his bid to buy Twitter was “probably illegal.”
“Gee, Elon Musk never told me that until now he voted for Democrats. Actually, it was quite the contrary, but now it seems, with all of his problems with a probably illegal purchase of Twitter, he wants to be a Republican because the Dems are “a party of hate.” I could have told him that a long time ago, but actually, they are a Party of sickness, greed, corruption, and absolutely horrible policy. Good luck, Elon, have fun!!!”
Although Musk has vowed to allow Trump to return to Twitter if his buyout closes successfully, Trump has repeatedly said that he won’t go back, and his recent dig at the Space X CEO was the latest sign that he holds no enthusiasm for Twitter or Musk.
Trump lashed out at Musk as his own social media venture faces the prospect of increased competition if Musk acquires Twitter and allows conservatives that had been banned a freer rein on the site.
