Sen. Chris Murphy announced Sunday that he was unfollowing President Donald Trump on Twitter, calling the President’s feed “the most hate-filled” of the accounts the lawmaker follows.
“I’m unfollowing the President of the United States today on Twitter, because his feed is the most hate-filled, racist, and demeaning of the 200+ I follow,” the Connecticut Democrat tweeted, “and it regularly ruins my day to read it. So I’m just going to stop.”
He continued: “I can’t believe I just typed that.”
The President is known to be a persistent tweeter and often uses the social media platform to test policy and take stock of hiswide audience. Murphy, who is also active on Twitter, has before clashed with Trump on policy, especially on the topic of gun control. The senator’s Sunday decision to unfollow Trump on Twitter comes on the heels of the President’s recent tweeted attacks on prominent African American congressman Elijah Cummings.
Trump tweeted Saturday that Cummings’ district, which is majority black and includes parts of Baltimore, are “FAR WORSE and more dangerous” than those at the US-Mexico border, also calling it “a disgusting, rat and rodent infested mess.” Cummings, a Maryland Democrat, serves as chairman of the House Oversight Committee — one of the House committees investigating the President.
The Presidents’ tweets sparked backlash from top politicians, including Baltimore Mayor Bernard C. Jack Young and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Young tweeted that it was “completely unacceptable for the political leader of our country to denigrate a vibrant American City like Baltimore, and to viciously attack U.S. Representative Elijah Cummings a patriot and a hero.” Pelosi — whose father represented the city in Congress, and, along with her brother, served as its mayor — echoed those sentiments, calling Trump’s tweets racist.
Two weekends ago, Trump — in racist language that was later condemned by a House resolution — told four progressive Democratic congresswomen of color to “go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came.” Three of the four were born in the US, and the fourth is a naturalized US citizen.
Acting White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney defended Trump, telling “Fox News Sunday” the President was going after Cummings over the Democrat’s statements about the situation at the southern border and that “it has absolutely zero to do with race.” Mulvaney also told CBS’ “Face the Nation” he could understand why Trump’s comments have been perceived as offensive, “but that doesn’t mean that its racist.”
As of noon on Sunday, Murphy’s tweet had garnered more than 45,000 likes and had been retweeted more than 7,000 times.
