Anyone who has teenagers has likely admonished them with this warning: “Don’t say or do stupid things and then post them online.”
Apparently that advice needs to be delivered to several people on the campaign payroll for Donald Trump.
The AP has discovered the online social media accounts of six current and former Trump staffers who have posted blatantly bigoted and racist memes and status updates for all the world to see. Here’s who, and what, the AP discovered, along with some examples we found from these staffers’ various Twitter and Facebook accounts. All quotes are from the AP report.
1. Mark Kevin Lloyd
“Mark Kevin Lloyd of Lynchburg, Virginia, who has been paid $36,000 as Trump’s field director in the state, shared a post June 30 calling Islam ‘a barbaric cult.’ He shared a meme June 16, four days after the Orlando nightclub shooting by a heavily armed Muslim who professed allegiance to the Islamic State group. The meme said people should be forced to eat bacon before they can purchase firearms.”
The June 16 post the AP cited above is no longer available. Someone has been doing some damage control. In addition, many of the links to Mr. Lloyd’s Facebook account now come back with the following.:
2. Teresa Unrue
“Teresa Unrue, a field organizer and graphic designer in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, for Trump’s advance team, shared a video on her Facebook account July 11 — the week before the Republican National Convention — of a black man eating fried chicken while shaming fellow black people. ‘Why are you mad about slavery?’ the man asks. ‘Y’all weren’t no damn slaves.’Had me crack’n up!! Thank you!’ Unrue wrote of the video. ‘Please share this with people.'”
3. Annie Marie Delgado
“Annie Marie Delgado of Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, wrote in December 2014 post, one of a number highlighting crimes against white people before Trump declared his candidacy. Delgado also shared a discredited, hoax photo of the State Department’s Kerry with Jane Fonda, and commented: ‘I say hang them!'”
Here’s a Facebook post of hers questioning the judicial impartiality of judge Carolyn Walker because Walker practices Islam:
4. Phillip Dann
“Phillip Dann, a field organizer in Massachusetts who recently relocated to Florida, was paid $6,153 between January and March. He shared a meme mocking ‘Muslim sympathizers.’ He also shared an article about Trump threatening to bring back waterboarding ‘or worse,’ and added ‘where is the gasoline?’ Dann told the AP in a phone interview he had no antipathy against Muslims in general.”
Here’s a tweet from Mr. Dann, whose Twitter handle happens to be “GringoPhil,” using the controversial Washington Redskins logo presumably to demean Elizabeth Warren:
@greta @oreillyfactor pic.twitter.com/5CJWGTDBdj
— Phillip Dann (@GringoPhil) June 3, 2016
5. Scott Barrish
“Scott Barrish, who earned $12,250 as Trump’s political director for the Tampa Bay, Florida, region, took his views beyond social media posts. In 2011, he drew local press coverage for writing to the head of the nonprofit Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy group for Muslims in the U.S., saying he was wise to its plans to establish a totalitarian theocracy in the United states. ‘This is us vs. you,’ wrote Barrish. ‘In the great words of the late President Ronald Reagan, I win, you lose!’ Separately, Barrish tweeted in 2013 that he hoped America wasn’t headed for civil war, but ‘if our freedoms must be defended against a tyrannical government, so be it.'”
Here’s an outlandish tweet from Mr. Barrish saber-rattling for civil war:
https://twitter.com/ScottBarrish/status/291796817019011073
6. Craig Bachler
“…Craig Bachler of Bradenton, Florida, posted jokes in 2015 about Mexican accents superimposed over pictures of an overweight man wearing a sombrero. Bachler was named by the campaign as official staff in November, though there is no record he has been paid for his work. Bachler did not respond to a request for comment via Facebook or a message left at his office voicemail. After AP’s inquiries, Bachler blocked access to an AP reporter, and his Facebook account — which included a photo of Bachler with Trump — was scrubbed to remove the offensive post.”
Despite the fact that Mr. Bachler blocked the AP from his Facebook account, below is one of his tweets still available for all to see:
https://twitter.com/craigbachler/status/742097223828295681
H/T to AP News
