#WhiteSupremacistinChief trends at number one on Twitter

The hashtag “WhiteSupremacistinChief” trended at number one on Twitter Monday following President Trump’s responses to the two mass shooting that rocked the country over the weekend.

A gunman killed 21 people and wounded dozens more in an attack at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas, on Saturday.

Less than 24 hours later, at least nine people were killed and more than two dozen were injured in a Dayton, Ohio, shooting. The two shootings are not believed to be linked.

{mosads}Patrick Wood Crusius, the alleged gunman in the El Paso shooting, is believed to have written a racist, anti-immigrant manifesto before the attack, which described fears of a Latino “invasion.” 

Democratic leaders have drawn comparisons between Crusius’s alleged motives and Trump’s immigration rhetoric, suggesting the president contributed to the environment that led to the attack.

On Monday, after the hashtag had already been trending, Trump in remarks from the White House called on the nation to condemn white supremacy.

“In one voice, our nation must condemn bigotry, hatred and white supremacy,” he said. “These sinister ideologies must be defeated.” 

Twitter told The Hill on Monday it did not yet have any information on the origin or use of the trending topic on Trump.

Some top trends in the past have raised questions about whether bots are promoting certain divisive conversations on Twitter, particularly regarding race.

But the Trump hashtag on Monday did have some identifiable users.

Filmmaker Ava Duvernay, who recently created a movie about five African American men wrongly accused of the 1989 rape of a jogger in New York City’s Central Park, used the hashtag in a post responding to Trump suggesting Monday that “fake news” has contributed to growing “anger and rage” in the U.S.

“Nah. News coverage has got to start calling you what you are. A traitor. A liar. A racist. A coward. A fool. #WhiteSupremacistInChief,” wrote Duvernay, whose film criticizes Trump for calling for the death penalty for the five men.

Nah. News coverage has got to start calling you what you are. A traitor. A liar. A racist. A coward. A fool. #WhiteSupremacistInChief. https://t.co/gE6pOmzGsq

— Ava DuVernay (@ava) August 5, 2019

The head of Democratic Coalition, an anti-Trump super PAC that targets Republican officials and candidates, used the hashtag while comparing statements on immigrants from Trump and Crusius’s alleged manifesto.

“Who said this?… “The U.S. is ill-prepared for this invasion of illegals, and will not stand for it,” Jon Cooper asked. “No, it wasn’t the #WhiteSupremacistTerrorist who massacred 20 people in El Paso. It was actually Donald Trump, the #WhiteSupremacistInChief.”

Who said this?…

“The U.S. is ill-prepared for this invasion of illegals, and will not stand for it.”

No, it wasn’t the #WhiteSupremacistTerrorist who massacred 20 people in El Paso. It was actually Donald Trump, the #WhiteSupremacistInChief.

— Jon Cooper (@joncoopertweets) August 5, 2019