ducks
07-03-2020, 09:15 PM
Trump campaign communications staffers blasted cable news outlet CNN on Friday, alleging blatant hypocrisy in its coverage of visits to Mount Rushmore by Barack Obama and President Donald Trump.
Zach Parkinson, a Trump campaign researcher, tweeted:
"Fascinating how CNN called Mount Rushmore 'majestic' and 'quite a sight' in 2008 when Obama visited, but now its a symbol of slavery and stolen land"
The tweet linked to a 2008 transcript of a CNN broadcast where it reported: "Barack Obama is in South Dakota today. He arrived there last night. Take a look at this. He got a good glimpse of the majestic Mount Rushmore."
And later in the transcript about the then-candidate's visit: "Obama arrived there late last night and got a good look around Mt. Rushmore – it's quite a sight if you haven't seen it."
In the face of that content, many conservatives went on Twitter Friday to vent outrage. They said Trump's visit Friday night, timed to the Independence Day weekend and accompanied by a planned fireworks display, was ridiculed and Mount Rushmore denounced as a symbol of hate. (CNN and The New York Times have noted this week that among the presidents honored on Rushmore are histories of slave ownership and cruelty to Native Americans, while emphasizing that the land on which the granite monument sits was taken from regional tribes.)
That criticism has gained attention as a social justice movement has blossomed followed the Memorial Day slaying of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Amid mass protests both across the country and around the world, companies, institutions and governments are reexamining their histories in connection with race and prejudice.
But with that heightened attention to matters of race and prejudice has come claims that some are taking this reexamination too far.
Trump campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh tweeted a video of a CNN reporter ripping Mount Rushmore in connection with the president's visit:
Zach Parkinson, a Trump campaign researcher, tweeted:
"Fascinating how CNN called Mount Rushmore 'majestic' and 'quite a sight' in 2008 when Obama visited, but now its a symbol of slavery and stolen land"
The tweet linked to a 2008 transcript of a CNN broadcast where it reported: "Barack Obama is in South Dakota today. He arrived there last night. Take a look at this. He got a good glimpse of the majestic Mount Rushmore."
And later in the transcript about the then-candidate's visit: "Obama arrived there late last night and got a good look around Mt. Rushmore – it's quite a sight if you haven't seen it."
In the face of that content, many conservatives went on Twitter Friday to vent outrage. They said Trump's visit Friday night, timed to the Independence Day weekend and accompanied by a planned fireworks display, was ridiculed and Mount Rushmore denounced as a symbol of hate. (CNN and The New York Times have noted this week that among the presidents honored on Rushmore are histories of slave ownership and cruelty to Native Americans, while emphasizing that the land on which the granite monument sits was taken from regional tribes.)
That criticism has gained attention as a social justice movement has blossomed followed the Memorial Day slaying of an unarmed black man, George Floyd, at the hands of police in Minneapolis. Amid mass protests both across the country and around the world, companies, institutions and governments are reexamining their histories in connection with race and prejudice.
But with that heightened attention to matters of race and prejudice has come claims that some are taking this reexamination too far.
Trump campaign Communications Director Tim Murtaugh tweeted a video of a CNN reporter ripping Mount Rushmore in connection with the president's visit: