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U.S. property tycoon and presidential hopeful Donald Trump regularly retweets white supremacist sympathizers, according to research released Tuesday.
Sixty two percent of Twitter accounts retweeted by Trump over the past week follow “at least 3 people who’ve used hashtag #WhiteGenocide lately,” while almost a third follow at least one well known white nationalist social media user, according to data compiled by marketing firm Little Bird.
“1,055 people have used the hashtag #WhiteGenocide and Trump’s name in the same Tweet in recent weeks,” Little Bird's Marshall Kirkpatrick stated.
The findings were the result of an analysis of Trump's Twitter use over the past week. Trump is a regular Twitter user, and has more than 5 million followers. However, in recent weeks he has garnered widespread criticism earlier this month when he retweeted the white supremacist Twitter handle @WhiteGenocideTM.
The account is linked to a website promoting a pro-Nazi film that described Adolf Hitler as the “savior of Europe,” and many of its tweets include Islamophobic and anti-Semitic themes.
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One tweet included an image of Trump dressed in a Nazi uniform gassing Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders. Much of Sander's extended family was killed in the Holocaust.
The tweet has since been deleted, though many of @WhiteGenocideTM's other comments have likewise been slammed by social media users as offensive.
According to Little Bird, their new research shows Trump's engagement with social media users like @WhiteGenocideTM isn't an “anomaly.”
“It turns out that Donald Trump mostly retweets white supremacists saying nice things about him. At least so far this week’s that’s how it's gone,” Little Bird's Kirkpatrick explained.
Kirkpatrick continued by noting Trump is wildly popular among white supremacists on Twitter.
“58 percent of the top 50 White Nationalist accounts on Twitter follow Donald Trump,” he said.
Trump isn't just beloved by white supremacists online. Last month a teleSUR investigation found neo-Nazi leaders are mobilizing behind Trump.
“Virtually all pro-white nationalists are at least somewhat supportive of Donald Trump and most are even enthusiastic,” white supremacist William daniel Johnson told teleSUR. Johnson said he and his fellow fascists have already set up a Trump Super PAC and are running radio ads in support of his candidacy.
