Kellyanne Conway, who serves as one of President Donald Trump’s main media surrogates, tweeted -- and subsequently deleted -- a Valentine’s Day message to a white nationalist Twitter account that has posted anti-Semitic and racist messages. Conway’s message is yet another example of the Trump team sending a nod to its supporters in white nationalist media.
As Media Matters has documented, Trump and his advisers have engaged in a disturbing courtship with the racist white nationalist movement. They have repeatedly retweeted white supremacist messages and accounts, such as “WhiteGenocideTM”; surrogates have directly courted white nationalists by giving interviews to white nationalist media outlets; and Trump’s team gave press credentials to a “pro-white” radio host to cover a rally. Trump has also appointed officials who are popular among members of the movement, including senior adviser Stephen Bannon.
The courtship has had its desired effect with white nationalist media: They have heavily defended Trump and his policies and harassed journalists who have questioned the president. White nationalist writers have also cited Trump and his team’s Twitter messages -- whether later deleted or not -- as a signal that the administration agrees with white nationalist policies.
The account @TrumpTrainNoBrk tweeted at Conway on February 14: “Your strength & resiliency in face of vile hatred, bigotry, & sexism of the unhinged Left is a daily inspiration! Love you!” In a since-deleted tweet, Conway responded:
In an interview with BuzzFeed, Conway implied she didn't send the tweet, claiming she didn’t “know who had access to my account. ... Let me see who sent this.” She added, “I denounce whoever it is. It will be immediately deleted. Everybody makes mistakes.”
The account’s white nationalist orientation is clear from just a cursory glance. The account has a cartoon frog next to its name. The frog represents Pepe, which has become the mascot for white nationalists and anti-Semites. The account's bio also says "#WhiteIdentity." As the Southern Poverty Law Center noted, members of the racist “alt-right” movement have been claiming “that ‘white identity’ is under attack by multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and ‘social justice’ to undermine white people and ‘their’ civilization.”
@TrumpTrainNoBrk responded to a BuzzFeed reporter noting that Conway had just retweeted “a white nationalist” by writing, “#WhiteIdentity is a right, not bigotry, despite how much Marxists like you hate it.”
@TrumpTrainNoBrk has repeatedly tweeted or retweeted white nationalist themes about Jewish people, African-Americans, and “white genocide.” The account claimed: “By far the angriest, most aggressive tweets I get are from low-IQ black women... I wonder why?” and wrote that it posts “black on white violent crime stats” so African-Americans “will stop murder/raping us.”