Donald Trump Campaign Racist Tweet Controversy

Overview

Donald Trump Campaign Racist Tweet Controversy, also known as Trump War Room Anti-Immigration Post Controversy or Trump August 2024 Racist Meme, refers to a viral tweet posted by the official Trump War Room (@TrumpWarRoom) X / Twitter account of the 2024 Donald Trump presidential campaign that used a comparison meme to imply that if Vice President Kamala Harris wins the upcoming presidential election, neighborhoods in the U.S. will be overrun with crowds of immigrants. The post, made in mid-August 2024, was heavily criticized by numerous media outlets and social media users who accused Trump's campaign of racism and being anti-immigrant as the meme generated controversy online.

Background

On August 13th, 2024, the official X / Twitter account of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign @TrumpWarRoom^[1] posted two images in a comparison meme, one depicting a suburban neighborhood with the text "Your neighborhood under Trump" below it and one picturing a crowd of migrants in New York City^[4] outside of the Roosevelt Hotel with the text "Your neighborhood under Kamala" below it. The post was also captioned, "Import the third world, Become the third world," which amassed more than 3.5 million views, 13,000 likes and 4,300 reposts in a day (seen below).

The post from the @TrumpWarRoom account quickly garnered attention from the press, who covered it in articles and during broadcasts on August 13th and 14th as it received criticism and accusations of racism.^[5][6][7]

Online Reactions

The controversial tweet quickly sparked numerous debates and reactions on social media as people alleged the meme had anti-immigrant and racist connotations. For example, on August 13th, 2024, X^[2] user @PacharyZhillips replied to @TrumpWarRoom's post with an image of the 2017 Unite the Right Rally with the caption, "That’s so crazy because this was my actual neighborhood under Trump." The post (seen below, left) amassed more than 17,000 likes and 1,200 reposts in a day.

On the same say, X^[3] user @DerekBodnerNBA replied to the same tweet, writing, "Truly wild how a political campaign for THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES is this comfortable being openly and overtly racist." The tweet (seen below, right) amassed over 450 likes and 35 likes in a day.

Also on August 13th, 2024, the contentious tweet sparked discourse on Reddit as it was reposted to numerous subreddits, including /r/politics^[8] and /r/WhitePeopleTwitter,^[9] among others. Many on the platform also perceived the post as racist.

Search Interest

External References