Trump retweeted a message from the far-right OAN network calling anti-racism protests an attempted 'coup'
- President Donald Trump shared a message from far-right news network One America News (OAN ) Saturday, branding ongoing anti-racism protests an attempted coup.
- Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has accused Trump of rooting for violence at ongoing demonstrations, which have resulted in deadly clashes between rival protesters in recent days.
- Republicans though, have accused Democrats of ignoring violent unrest at protests.
- On Saturday, a man was shot and killed in Portland, Oregon, after clashes between pro-Trump and Black Lives Matter demonstrators.
President Donald Trump shared a message Saturday from far-right news network One America News branding ongoing anti-racism protests a "coup" aimed at unseating him.
For weeks, the president has been seeking to portray protests that swept America following the killing of George Floyd as the work of extremists and agitators.
The Trump campaign has seized on images of violence and looting at some protests to promote the president as a champion of law and order, with the theme at the center of last week's GOP convention.
On Saturday, Trump doubled down on the argument, sharing a message by OAN featuring a program on the network seeking to expose the protests as part of an anarchist coup.
"According to the mainstream media, the riots & extreme violence are completely unorganized. However, it appears this coup attempt is led by a well funded network of anarchists trying to take down the President," reads the message shared by the president.
The ADL has previously labeled attempts to portray the protests as mainly the work of extremists as disinformation. It pointed to the role of far-right media in spreading the claim. It pointed to the role of far-right media in spreading the claim.
The tweet comes amid growing concern about violence between pro-Trump and Black Lives Matter demonstrators at protests, and concerns the president's incendiary rhetoric helps instigate the unrest.
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden told CNN last week that he believes Trump is hoping for violence at the demonstrations, because it enables him to detract from his failed response to the coronavirus.
A 17-year old Trump supporter is accused of shooting dead two BLM demonstrators in Kenosha, Wisconsin on Wednesday. In Portland, Oregon, on Saturday, one man was shot dead following clashes between rival demonstrators. According to initial reports, the man killed was wearing a hat emblazoned with insignia of the far-right Patriot Prayer group.
Compared to its rivals, OAN has a tiny audience, but President Trump has repeatedly promoted conspiracy theories and disinformation broadcast by the network to his supporters.
The network has repeatedly aired groundless and bizarre pro-Trump conspiracy theories, including the claim in May that the coronavirus was invented in a US lab as part of a plot by infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci, who has clashed with Trump over measures to contain the virus.