NY Times editorial: Sharing ‘Britain First’ videos does ‘serious and totally unnecessary harm’

The New York Times editorial board blasted President Trump’s decision to retweet a series of anti-Muslim videos first posted by the deputy leader of the ultranationalist “Britain First” movement.

“No sooner had Britons found some sorely needed trans-Atlantic cheer in the engagement of their prince charming to an American actress than President Trump dashed it all with his baffling retweet of vile anti-Muslim propaganda from a British neo-fascist group,” said an editorial published Sunday in The New York Times.

“When Prime Minister Theresa May remonstrated, he compounded the insult with a childishly insolent retort. Britain reacted with rare all-but-unanimous fury, with members of Parliament denouncing the president as stupid, racist and even fascist.”

{mosads}

The editorial board wrote that the country has been accustomed to “the regular eruption of his inane, self-pitying, aggressive tweets.”

But, the editorial board wrote, that doesn’t explain why Trump chose to retweet the videos from a “tiny, viciously anti-Muslim group called Britain First.”

“Why does the president of the United States embarrass his country, undermine a venerable and critical alliance, insult and alienate all Muslims, including those whose help he needs to fight militant Islam?” the editorial board wrote.

“Sharing the ‘Britain First’ garbage does serious and totally unnecessary harm to America’s interests and standing in the world.”

Trump last week retweeted a series of videos that purported to show violent acts by Muslims. The videos were first sent out by Jayda Fransen, the deputy leader of the ultranationalist Britain First Party.

Fransen was arrested earlier this month over a speech made in Belfast this summer at a Northern Ireland Against Terrorism rally, according to the BBC.

Trump’s decision to share the videos spurred a widespread backlash, with May condemning the tweets. Some lawmakers in the United Kingdom, including London Mayor Sadiq Kahn, also called for Trump’s visit to the country next year to be canceled.