There’s usually a pretty clear barrier between President Donald Trump’s ramblings on his own personal Twitter account and the White House’s official announcements and promotions on its. But Thursday night, that line was effectively erased when the official White House account shared a five-minute clip of incendiary conservative Mark Levin during an appearance on Fox News’ Hannity, adding more fuel to the racist attacks against the Democratic women of color Trump has been assailing all week.

In the clip, also now pinned to Trump’s Twitter profile, Levin gaslights Fox News viewers in defense of the president.

“President Trump was addressing the content of the character of these four women, not the color of their skin, but the media want it to be otherwise,” he asserted. “They want the narrative of racism. He didn’t talk about race. He didn’t talk about skin color. He didn’t talk about religion. He talked about them, the content or lack thereof of their character.”

Levin’s primary argument is that the women are anti-Semitic and therefore anti-American. “They are degrading an entire faith, an entire people, Jews, Israelis, an entire country, Israel, so it shouldn’t surprise anybody that their venom for America is [the] same as their venom for Israel, and vice a versa [sic],” he said, calling them “anti-Semite bigots.” His primary argument to support this is comparisons they’ve made to “Hitler, and the Third Reich, and concentration camps,” claiming “they have no knowledge of history.”


He knew nothing about “what they have done in support of the country while they rip this great country apart.” But Trump, he said, loves America and “is the greatest president that Israel has ever seen.” (The President of the United States is notably not elected by the people of Israel.) And he insisted that Trump has done more for Muslims and women of color attacking Syria, destroying ISIS, and protecting Muslims in Afghanistan from the Taliban.

“Now what the hell have Omar and Tlaib and AOC done for men and women and children of color? Not a damn thing,” Levin said.

He also praised Trump’s willingness to cut a deal on immigration, even though what Trump actually did was hold undocumented DREAMers hostage to try and demand the border vanity wall he wanted. “Does that sound like a racist to you?” he asked. “This president is not a racist. This president is a patriot.”

Levin decided to let Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) off the hook, focusing instead on the other three members of the so-called “Squad” — Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), and Rashida Tlaib (D-MI). In Trump’s latest attempt Friday morning to focus attention back on the congresswomen instead of his racism, he had notably followed suit, referring to the “three” women instead of the “four.”

It is amazing how the Fake News Media became “crazed” over the chant “send her back” by a packed Arena (a record) crowd in the Great State of North Carolina, but is totally calm & accepting of the most vile and disgusting statements made by the three Radical Left Congresswomen… — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 19, 2019

Sharing the Levin clip is just the latest escalation in a week of racist attacks on “the Squad.” Trump first lashed out Sunday, claiming that the women need to go back to the countries they came from, an unoriginal racist trope — particularly given three of the four were born in the United States. He repeatedly doubled down throughout the week, including at a campaign rally on Wednesday where he spurred his supporters to chant “Send her back!” about Omar. On Thursday, Trump lied about his supposed attempt to cut off the racist chant, passing the blame to his supporters in North Carolina.


While the White House has tried to keep the focus on the congresswomen, the effort has only dug Trump’s racist hole deeper — including on the international level. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was asked Friday if she supported the congresswomen, and she unequivocally responded “yes,” condemning Trump’s racist remarks.

Angela Merkel was asked if she supported the congresswomen being attacked by Trump. Her reply was to the point pic.twitter.com/J16vFojcts — The Independent (@Independent) July 19, 2019

Levin himself doubled down on his claims Friday, tweeting that because of widespread support for the congresswomen, “it seems beyond dispute that much of the modern media are anti-Semitic or tolerant of anti-Semitism.”