Donald Trump Jr. Retweeted Roseanne Barr's Awful Tweets Because Of Course He Did
Roseanne Barr has officially been cancelled in all senses of the word. The actress and comedian's recently rebooted ABC comedy was cancelled on May 29 after she posted a series of racist and insulting tweets. Although the public backlash as a result of the tweets caused the show's cancellation, not everyone seemed to think that they were inappropriate — and some even deemed them retweet-worthy. Donald Trump Jr. retweeted Roseanne Barr's terrible tweets, and I don't think this news is surprising to anyone.
Barr has been a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump for quite some time now, and there's a fraction of Trump supporters that make some pretty far-fetched claims. These claims and conspiracy theories often are related to the Clinton family, or progressive Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros. But this one particular theory that Barr tweeted about is just too ridiculous too even suggest that it could be true.
It started on May 29 when Barr simply tweeted "Chelsea Soros Clinton." If you think this is a weird thing to tweet, you're absolutely right — for two reasons. One, Clinton's middle name is not Soros, as Barr suggests. It's Victoria, which Clinton confirmed in a rebuttal tweet on May 29. Barr then fired back at Clinton and said in a tweet,
Sorry to have tweeted incorrect info about you!I Please forgive me! By the way, George Soros is a nazi who turned in his fellow Jews 2 be murdered in German concentration camps & stole their wealth-were you aware of that? But, we all make mistakes, right Chelsea?
Trump then subsequently retweeted this response that Barr wrote to Clinton, and if you're confused as to why I am here to try and explain this. Keyword: try — because this theory is just that ridiculous.
Soros is a known political donor who has contributed to Democratic candidates and progressive causes. During the 2016 presidential campaign, he donated a massive $25 million to Hillary Clinton and other DNC candidates, and is the founder of the Open Society Foundations, which promotes democracy and human rights worldwide. He's also a frequent target for right-wing conspiracy theorists, who suggest he is a sort of global puppetmaster who is behind conspiracies on an international scale — a theory which, as The New York Times notes, is rooted in anti-Semitism and ideas that Jews are secretly controlling the world.
Despite Barr essentially calling Soros a Nazi sympathizer, Soros himself is Jewish, and as a child in Nazi-occupied Hungary posed as a Christian as a means of surviving the Holocaust. In a 1998 60 Minutes interview, Soros said that he and his "protector" (who he said claimed him as his adopted godson) aided in the confiscation of Jewish property. He said that this did not cause a feeling of guilt, even though he himself is a Jew, because he was a "spectator" to the actions of the Nazis. Soros himself wasn't actually taking away property, but right-wing conspiracy theorists have taken this clip from that interview and touted this theory extensively.
A spokesperson for Soros directly responded to the tweet in a statement. According to The Independent, the spokesperson said,
[Soros] did not collaborate with Nazis. He did not help round up people. He did not confiscate anybody’s property. Such allegations are insulting to the victims of the Holocaust, to all Jewish people, and to anyone who honours the truth.
Trump retweeted this sentiment from Barr, but it's not the first time Trump's shared support for conspiracy theories. After the school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School on Feb. 14, Trump was slammed for liking tweets that promoted a conspiracy theory that one of the student survivors was in fact a planted actor.
Trump tweeted out his frustration over a Page Six article that commented on the fact that he retweeted the statement from Barr and referred to the retweet as "racist." He said,
Page Six is doing what they normally do, lying and obfuscating. They know full well that I did not RT anything that was anti-semitic, but I guess facts don’t matter when you’re a dishonest, clickbait rag.#FAKENEWS
I mean, racist conspiracy theories, allusions to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, toh-may-toe, toh-mah-toh, right? If you support Barr's claims, that's your prerogative. But the retweets don't lie.
