President Donald Trump fired off a midnight tweet mocking Beto O’Rourke’s “phony” nickname “to indicate Hispanic heritage,” to which the former congressman quickly responded.
22 people in my hometown are dead after an act of terror inspired by your racism. El Paso will not be quiet and neither will I. https://t.co/dakFPKj0vJ
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) August 7, 2019
Trump sent the tweet just hours before he’s due in El Paso Wednesday, the site of a massacre inspired by the shooter’s belief in the “Great Replacement Theory” or xenophobic conviction that leftists are scheming to fill the country with foreigners of color.
O’Rourke is of Irish heritage, but was given his nickname as a child growing up in El Paso, a mixed-race community.
The Democratic presidential hopeful has had strong words for the President in the wake of the killings, angrily telling reporters that “you know the shit he’s been saying” and that “he’s not tolerating violence, he’s inciting racism and violence in this country.”
He, along with his congressional successor Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), has asked Trump not to come to the site of the shooting, saying the community needs time to “heal.”
