Trump Twitter barrage calls terrorists 'losers,' touts progress against ISIS, attacks ESPN
WASHINGTON — President Trump launched an early morning Twitter barrage Friday, starting with comments triggered by news of a terrorist bomb on a London subway and then rapidly veering into attacks on the sports network ESPN and calls for a tougher travel ban.Â
 “Another attack in London by a loser terrorist. These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!” Trump tweeted, implying that British authorities also knew the identity of who planted the bomb.
So far, however, no suspects have been identified or whether anyone was involved was being tracked by Scotland Yard, which is similar to the FBI. Â
“Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner. The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off use better!” Trump said in a following tweet.
Another attack in London by a loser terrorist.These are sick and demented people who were in the sights of Scotland Yard. Must be proactive!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
Loser terrorists must be dealt with in a much tougher manner.The internet is their main recruitment tool which we must cut off use better!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
Trump’s tweet about the proposed ban on travel to the United States from residents of six mostly Muslim countries — Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen — called for even tougher measures but said they would not be “politically correct.”
The travel ban into the United States should be far larger, tougher and more specific-but stupidly, that would not be politically correct!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
The ban, initially announced on Jan. 27, has been reworked and fought in a variety of federal courts. it will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court when it starts its new term next month.Â
The court will hear arguments next month in the broader constitutional challenge to the travel ban from states and immigrant rights groups. The current dispute is over which immigrants and refugees can enter in the meantime.
Trump did not specify the tougher measures he had in mind. Also, since authorities in London have not identified who is behind Friday’s bombing, it is not known whether that attack had anything to do with residents of the six countries covered by the ban.Â
Amid his Twitter flurry, which also included touting his record against the terrorist group ISIS in comparison to that of his predecessor, President Barack Obama, Trump veered to attack ESPN, the employer of anchor Jemele Hill, who criticized Trump on Twitter as a white supremacist following his remarks following an Aug. 12 neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Va., in which a counterprotester was killed.Â
“ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth!” Trump tweeted.
ESPN is paying a really big price for its politics (and bad programming). People are dumping it in RECORD numbers. Apologize for untruth!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 15, 2017
“Donald Trump’s a white supremacist; has largely surrounded himself with other white supremacists. His rise is a direct result of white supremacy, period. He’s unqualified and unfit to be president,” Hill said.
Hill later apologized to ESPN, but not to Trump, calling her views her “personal opinion.”
On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said she did not know if Trump knew about Hill’s comments.Â
“I think that’s one of the more outrageous comments than anyone could make, and certainly something that I think is a firable offense by ESPN,” Sanders said..
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