Donald Trump Jr., the son of Republican nominee Donald Trump, tweeted out a graphic on Monday night that compared Syrian refugees to Skittles. Not only is the parallel dehumanizing, there is no evidence to support that three Syrian refugees out of every “bowl” of Syrian refugees “would kill” people. Would you take a handful?
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Trump Jr’s message came as the UN’s first-ever Summit for Refugees and Migrants took place in NY.
Vice President of Corporate Affairs at Wrigley Americas Denise Young responded: “Skittles are candy”. Wrigley Jr. Co [MARSIW.UL] said the company did not feel Trump’s analogy was appropriate. “We respectfully refrain from further comment, as that could be misinterpreted as marketing”. “That’s our Syria refugee problem”.
But Nick Merrill, Hillary Clinton’s travelling press secretary, early tweeted that Donald Jr’s post was “disgusting”.
But if you were placing a bet on which IL politician might leap to the defense of the younger Trump for his tasteless tweet, you’d probably back former IL congressman turned talk radio host Joe Walsh.
The elder Trump, of course, has strongly opposed allowing Syrian refugees into the US.
On Monday evening, Donald Trump Jr. sent forth unto the internet a meme that was both moronic and incorrect.
The 2016 campaign has featured heated rhetoric around U.S. policy for accepting refugees.
Wrigley, the maker of the candies, distanced itself from Mr Trump Jr’s comments.
“It is extremely unlikely that someone who is a terrorist will be sent through the refugee-resettlement program”, Greg Chen, the director of advocacy at the American Immigration Lawyers Association, told Business Insider past year.
Trump has called for the immediate halt to USA immigration from Syria and other Muslim countries where terrorists are known to operate.
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In September, UNICEF calculated that almost 50 million people had been displaced during the crisis – more than in any other crisis since World War II.
