Donald Trump Retweeted An Image That Came From A Website Known For Racism

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump has had quite a bit to say about "crooked Hillary" on social media lately — but recently, he went a little far. On Saturday, after he tweeted a picture of Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton next to a six-pointed star (on a backdrop of dollar bills,) the image immediately went viral. Trump later deleted the image, but the internet hasn't forgotten about it, and the picture has now been linked by Mic to a website known for its racist and anti-Semitic content. The picture of Clinton with the star of David, labeled "the most corrupt candidate ever," apparently originated on an 8chan message board known for attracting neo-Nazis.

According to Mic, the image was posted on the message board on June 22. The watermark on the bottom left corner of the picture also showed a Twitter handle previously linked to racist tweets. (The account in question, @FishboneHead1, disappeared on Sunday afternoon, a day after Trump posted the picture on Twitter.) The questionable image didn't appear on Trump's Twitter feed until a week after it showed up on the message board, so it's safe to say the meme wasn't a Trump creation. Instead, he posted the picture on June 2, after which it was quickly deleted and replaced with a similar image (in which the six-pointed star was replaced with a circle).

However, nothing really dies on the internet, and the original tweet was captured and widely re-shared:

When asked about the tweet, Trump's former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, told CNN, "A tweet is a simple tweet. And the bottom line is you can read into things that are not there. You know, this is a simple star. ... It’s the same star that sheriff's departments across the country use all over the place to represent law enforcement."

Romper reached out to Trump's campaign for comment on the tweet, but did not hear back. Trump's campaign has yet to respond to multiple outlets' requests for comment, and the presumptive Republican nominee hasn't publicly mentioned the tweet or posted an explanation for it on social media.

However, that hasn't stopped others from commenting on the tweet, which has drawn its fair share of scorn. "I know people still saying that comparing Trump to a Nazi is inappropriate," wrote astronomer Phil Plait. "Yeah, about that..."

Others reacted with humor or outright disbelief:

Whether it was a mistake, a horrible attempt at a joke, or something worse, Saturday's tweet was not Trump's wisest move on the campaign trail. Now, the world waits to see if the tweet will be explained away, forgotten, or — gasp — apologized for.