Trump Jr. blasts Democratic congressman for ‘defending’ Muslim preacher who called Jews ‘satanic’

Donald Trump Jr. and Democratic Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wisconsin) found themselves in a Twitter spat on Sunday over Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minnesota) and his associations with controversial Muslim preacher Louis Farrakhan.

It started when Trump Jr. tweeted a report from The Daily Caller which noted that three Democratic representatives, including Ellison, met with Farrakhan in 2013. Farrakhan, who leads the Nation of Islam religious movement, lost his Twitter ‘verified’ status in June over a post in which he referred to Jewish people as “satanic”.

Pocan wasn’t happy to see Trump Jr. tweet the link, which featured a photo of Ellison, who is running for attorney general in Minnesota, and responded to ask: "Is it that he's black or that he's Muslim that makes you hate/fear him so much?"

Trump, assuming Pocan was referring to Farrakhan, hit back, saying the 85-year-old preacher’s race or religion had nothing to do with why he disliked him and said the Democratic congressman should be “ashamed” for defending him.

“No - The reason I dislike Louis Farrakhan is because he is a raging anti-Semite & racist. You should be ashamed of yourself for defending him,” he tweeted.

A spokesperson for Pocan later told The Hill website that the congressman had been referring to Ellison in his tweet, not Farrakhan. Trump Jr. added that since Pocan was a Democrat, the media “will of course ignore your apparent support of an open anti-Semite”.

Farrakhan is also known for making anti-white comments and holding black supremacist views. At a 2015 event in Milwaukee, he said that white people “deserve to die” and described them as “potential humans” who had not “evolved” yet. He has also spoken out against interracial marriage and said he didn’t want the black race to be “any further mongrelized”.

In a fact-checking report in March, the Washington Post gave Ellison “Four Pinocchios” for claiming that he didn’t have any relationship with Farrakhan.

Former US President Bill Clinton was criticized recently for sharing a stage with Farrakhan at the funeral of singer Aretha Franklin. In February, an old photograph of Farrakhan with former president Barack Obama at 2005 Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) meeting also emerged, with the photographer claiming that a member of the CBC had approached him and asked him to surrender the photograph as it could hurt Obama’s career.