Trump Revives Culture Wars in Familiar Move to Deflect Pressure
- President has posted a series of tweets about racial issues
- White House says Trump has repeatedly condemned hate
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President Donald Trump, lagging in polls and facing new questions over possible Russian bounties to kill U.S. troops in Afghanistan, is resorting again to stoking racial tensions, a tactic he’s used in the past to change the subject and appeal to some of his most loyal supporters.
Through the week leading up to Independence Day, the president has sent a series of tweets vilifying the Black Lives Matter movement and protesters against police brutality, opposed renaming military bases that honor Confederate generals and threatened to end a Fair Housing program that strengthens anti-discrimination policies to ease more integration of neighborhoods, saying it has had a “devastating impact” on suburbs.