Eric Trump calls BLM protesters 'animals' at Tulsa, livid Internet says it's a 'fitting start to Klan rally'
As US President Donald Trump's Tulsa rally for his reelection bid in 2020 saw underwhelming crowds, his son Eric Trump took the stage to greet the half-filled arena. Eric created controversy when he referred to Black Lives Matter protesters as "animals".
The rally was initially scheduled to be held on June 19 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. However, the rally was rescheduled for the next day after many decried the campaign's decision to hold a rally for Trump on Juneteenth. "We're going to keep the moral fabric of this country," he said, with wife Lara by his side. "Because when you watch the nonsense on TV when you see these animals literally taking over our cities, burning down churches, this isn’t America. That’s not what Americans do."
Eric appeared to be referring to the small fire that was set and quickly extinguished in the basement of St John's Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, in the early days of the protests that followed George Floyd’s killing by Minneapolis police. No churches have been burned down during the demonstrations. Eric also went on to say that they will protect religious liberty, saying, "We are going to say 'Merry Christmas', which is totally under assault."
Many were left appalled at the president's son's reference to the protesters and took to social media to express it. One user tweeted, "Eric Trump just called protesters 'animals' so that’s a fitting start to the Klan rally," while another expressed, "Hitler youth much Eric?" One user wrote, "Eric Trump called protesters animals. There was no nuance because he doesn’t want any." A user tweeted, "Eric Trump just referred to #BlackLivesMatter protesters as 'animals.' If you don’t think he’s racist, let me remind you of what he thinks of animals," alongside a picture of Eric and Donald Trump Jr on one of their hunting trips. Another wrote, "Just a reminder: Eric Trump slaughters animals for fun. Killing other living beings must be genetic."
A user opined, "Seriously, Eric Trump, who’re you calling animals? Deflection for your father who will not address injustice in this country right now Breonna Taylor murder in her own home while asleep in her bed, George Floyd was killed over a $20 bill. Who’re you calling animals." Another tweeted, "What angers me the most about Eric Trump calling fellows human beings animals is that he said it in Tulsa. 99 years ago was the Tulsa Race Massacre. 99 years ago White supremacists did not see human beings that were prospering and they treated them as such."
This is not the first time a member of the Trump family has referred to people of color or black people as "animals". The president himself has used the word in the context of immigrants and MS-13 gang members. Moreover, in the history of European and Caucasian cultures, the comparison of humans to apes and monkeys was disparaging from the very beginning. According to The Conversation, in the Middle Ages, Christian discourse recognized simians as devilish figures and representatives of lustful and sinful behavior. For example, in John Donne's 'Metempsychosis' from 1633, Adam's daughter is seduced by an ape in a sexual affair. Later, in a work by Antonio de Torquemada, a Portuguese woman was exiled to Africa where she was raped by an ape and had his babies.