Trump’s harsh words on ‘squad’ reinforce dark posts online

WASHINGTON — Long before President Donald Trump turned up the heat on four Democratic congresswomen of color, saying they should “go back” to their home countries, hateful rhetoric and disinformation about the self-described squad was lurking online. In February, self-described far right social media influencers Jacob Wohl and Loomer flew to Minneapolis, where they provided live updates on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook of their trip to “investigate” Omar’s past and immigration status. Even seemingly everyday citizens have taken to social media to upload their own theories on Omar’s background, with one Minnesota woman posting a video months ago on Facebook sharing “proof” Omar is not a U.S. citizen. “Some of it was similar to or echoed themes in Trump’s own campaign.” He predicted Russians would revive racially fraught social media content in 2020. Last week, just days before Trump’s incendiary tweets, Fox News host Tucker Carlson described Omar on his show as having “undisguised contempt for the United States.” The president’s comments, in turn, appear to have inspired even more negative online rhetoric, including a new batch of Facebook and Twitter posts that describe Omar as a “terrorist.” Memes also have emerged calling the women “anti-American” and “enemies within.” One mock movie poster labels the women “The Jihad Squad” and includes the tagline: “Political Jihad is their game.” The attacks are part of a pattern for Trump, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, a professor at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of a recent book about how Russian hackers and trolls influenced Trump’s election.