Both came into play Monday night when Donald Trump Jr. tweeted an image of a bowl of Skittles, comparing Syrian refugees to poisoned candy. “Would you take a handful?” the graphic asked.
Advertisement
“What we need to do is say: We’re going to be humanitarian. but the reality is we need to make sure, as much as possible, who’s coming into America and what are their views on America?”
“Skittles are candy. Refugees are people”, Wrigley spokeswoman Denise Young said in a statement of the obvious. The younger Trump posted a message on Twitter likening Syrian refugees to a bowl of poisoned Skittles, causing a stir and negative tweets on the internet into Tuesday, Sept. 20.
Donald Trump has called for ending the US policy accepting refugees fleeing the war in Syria, arguing that USA immigration officials can not ensure that none of the asylum-seekers from Syria are secretly members of the Islamic State.
Trump Jr.’s Skittles reference is a borrowed from an analogy that gained popularity two years ago, as discussed on Reddit and this blog.
However, former Republican Party congressman and conservative radio host Joe Walsh appeared to criticise Mr Trump Jr for copying an earlier tweet of his own.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It said in a statement: “Skittles are candy”.
President Barack Obama’s former speech writer was also scathing of Trump Jr.
The tweet sparked outrage on social media, with some users posting harrowing images of Syrians caught up in the civil war juxtaposed with the word Skittles. This year, the country has taken in more than 11,000 Syrian refugees.
Of course Donald Jr., with his dad’s keen eye for detail, may have mixed up Afghanistan, where the alleged bomber was from, with Syria – but if you’re profiling, brown people do all look the same!
Advertisement
During the campaign Trump has repeatedly called for a moratorium on accepting Syrian refugees.
