Another weekend, another outbreak of utter tastelessness on Twitter.
New lows on Twitter: #NaziBucketChallenge versus Trump’s Hillary-gets-whacked-by-a-golf-ball retweet
Tasteless social media battles are now the rule, not the exception. Sigh.
This week: The latest hashtag meme #NaziBucketChallenge versus the reliably juvenile retweeting stylings of President Donald Trump.
For those with real lives, #NaziBucketChallenge focused on the fight between Trump and ESPN reporter Jemele Hill. She called the president a “white supremacist” on Twitter and added that he “surrounds himself with other white supremacists.” That caused the White House to blow a gasket and call for an apology for what it deemed a “fireable offense.” Trump also tweeted that the Disney-owned sports network — which disavowed her remarks — should fire her.
Thus, #NaziBucketChallenge, with Twitter users basically introing themselves and then also calling Trump a white supremacist. While I get the ire and need to speak out, it is taking a decidedly uncomfortable ride on the tweet-tails of the laudable Ice Bucket Challenge of a few years ago, which called attention to Lou Gehrig’s disease via the videoing of a delivery of a bucket of ice self-spilled on the heads of people and then posted on social media.
Now, the disease is racism.
For example:
And:
And:
And, of course, the inevitable backlash to the backlash:
Yes, it went on and on like that. Until ...
Trump, as if on cue, decided to take back the tasteless crown by retweeting a tweet that showed a GIF of him hitting a golf ball that then made it look like he took down Hillary Clinton, his foe for president in the 2016 election.
Voila:
Funny, right, to hit the ladies, especially that lady? Not so much on any planet except the one Trump lives on with his base. Of course, he has already done this many times before, usually aiming at CNN with his own wrestling prowess or with a speeding train.
As I said, we certainly are (not) a classy country.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
