Photo via Gage Skidmore/Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0), @IeaOffice/Twitter
August 23, 2021, 10:07 am
Rep. Matt Gaetz, in addition to the active investigation into his involvement with a sex trafficking scheme that involved underage girls, is in hot water for calling the Taliban and Donald Trump “more legitimate” than the current makeup of the U.S. government, arguing that both should be allowed on Twitter. This was in response to Sean Hannity posting an article from some right-wing website promoting a similar idea, complaining that Zabiullah Mujahid, a Taliban spokesperson, is on Twitter and has over 300,000 followers.
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Many are viewing Gaetz’s comment as an extension of a surprising embrace of the Taliban among U.S. Republicans in order to own the libs or whatever.
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“Taliban and Trump should both be on Twitter,” Gaetz tweeted. “More legitimate than the last government in Afghanistan or the current government here.”
Twitter has yet to put out a specific statement addressing the use of the platform by members of the Taliban, but indicated that because the situation in Afghanistan is currently in flux, they would rather keep the lines of communication open.
“The situation in Afghanistan is rapidly evolving. We’re also witnessing people in the country using Twitter to seek help and assistance,” a statement from the company reads. “Twitter’s top priority is keeping people safe, and we remain vigilant.”
“We will continue to proactively enforce our rules and review content that may violate Twitter Rules, specifically policies against glorification of violence, platform manipulation and spam.”
Gaetz’s putting together of Donald Trump and the Taliban in his tweet is particularly interesting considering the former president’s recent comments directly praising the group that the entire GOP has panned as terrorists since they formed in 1994. On Sean Hannity’s Fox News program last week, in fact, he called them “smart” and “good fighters” to the objection of exactly zero Republicans.
His son, meanwhile, made sure to project on Twitter that he agrees with the Taliban on the subject of freedom of speech and social media companies like Facebook.
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Rather than having the Taliban and all the people responsible for the attempted coup that happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, left Twitter would prefer if all of them would just go to jail and shut up forever.
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Can you just, like, be on America’s side for once
— wow a red ghost
(@wetsprocket) August 18, 2021
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*First Published: August 23, 2021, 10:07 am
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