Donald Trump Jr. Likens Syrian Refugees to Skittles
On Tuesday, Donald Trump Jr., the son of Republican nominee Donald Trump, turned to Twitter to boil down his father's understanding of the Syrian Refuge crisis into simple terms.
Trump's perception of Islam as a threat to American liberties led to his controversial proposal of banning Muslims, especially Syrian refugees, from entering the US. The young Trump��s tweet provided a backing for Trump's position on the Syrian refugee crisis.
"This image says it all. Let's end the politically correct agenda that doesn't put America first. #trump2016, Trump Jr. tweeted. The younger Trump's tweet was also accompanied by an image.
"If I had a bowl of skittles and I told you just three would kill you. Would you take a handful?" the graphic asked. "That's our Syrian refugee problem," said the image which was met with approval from avid fans of the Republican nominee
While devoted fans of Trump approved of the tweet, a large number of users across the social media platform, including the producer of Skittles, criticized Trump Jr. for his tweet.
"Skittles are candy; refugees are people. It's an inappropriate analogy. We respectfully refrain from further comment, as that could be misinterpreted as marketing," tweeted Mars incorporated, the producer of the popular candy, in an effort to distance itself from Trump Jr.'s remarks.
While Trump Jr.'s tweet shocked users across the platform, according to Yahoo a notable figure in the Republican Party made a similar statement last year. In an interview with MSNBC, former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee compared Syrian refugees to poisonous peanuts, asking "if there were about 10 peanuts that were deadly poisonous, would you feed them to your kids?"
According to a poll conducted by the Washington Post "nearly half of GOP-leaning respondents in the poll- 47 percent- both support the deportation of undocumented immigrants and oppose accepting refugees from Syria and other Mideast conflicts."