Over the weekend, Donald Trump Jr. posted an image to Instagram that included “Pepe the frog,” which, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, is a meme “constantly used” by white supremacists.
The image, which spoofs a poster from the film “The Expendables,” shows a ragtag group labeled “The Deplorables,” a reference to Hillary Clinton’s remark that “you can put half of Trump supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables.” The group’s ringleader is Donald Trump. He’s surrounded by his sons, his friend Roger Stone, vice presidential nominee Mike Pence, supporters Chris Christie, Rudy Giuliani and Ben Carson, conspiracy theorist and Trump fan Alex Jones, and alt-right defender Milo Yiannopoulos. Just to the right of the presidential candidate is Pepe the Frog.
In his Instagram post, Trump Jr. said the image was sent to him by “a friend” before noting, “I am honored to be grouped with the hard working men and women of this great nation.”
This isn’t Trump Jr.’s first, second or even third time associating himself with white supremacists.
In March, he appeared on a radio show with James Edwards, host of the white supremacist radio show Political Cesspool.
In July, it was noted he followed several white supremacists on Twitter.
Less than two weeks ago, he retweeted a prominent white supremacist. And that wasn’t even the first time he’s done so: Trump Jr. once retweeted a white supremacist’s false claim that a Trump supporter pictured giving the Nazi salute was actually a Bernie Sanders fan in disguise.
Any of these individual instances can be explained away. However, the most charitable interpretation of this pattern of behavior is that it once again demonstrates that the Trump family and campaign have no qualms about associating with known and prolific racists.
