Twitter allowed wishes of death against President Donald Trump from its verified leftist users to stay on the platform Friday morning after the President announced that he and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for the Chinese coronavirus. Twitter clearly states that “hoping that someone dies as a result of a serious disease” is a violation of the platform’s terms of service, but has not taken widespread action against its “blue check” users.
“It’s been against my moral identity to tweet this for the past four years, but, I hope he dies,” tweeted Zara Rahim, a former national spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Obama White House staffer. The tweet was initially highlighted by conservative producer and direction Robby Starbuck. This was just one prominent example of Twitter verified users wishing death on Trump. Some have deleted their comments and others have set their accounts private as a result of backlash.
Starbuck noted how the tweets violate Twitter’s rules. “‘Wishing, hoping or calling for serious harm on a person or a group of people’ is a major violation of Twitter’s terms of service,”
“Let’s see if [Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey] and @Twitter enforce this on all the leftists wishing, hoping and calling for serious harm to President Trump,” he added.
Twitter’s rules regarding abusive behavior state that that the platform does “not tolerate content that wishes, hopes or expresses a desire for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against an individual or group of people.
“This includes, but is not limited to: Hoping that someone dies as a result of a serious disease e.g., ‘I hope you get cancer and die,'” the Twitter Rules further clarify. But the rules didn’t stop a long list of verified accounts contributing their hopes that the President dies.
“I hope they both die,” wrote California congressional candidate Steve Cox.
“I hope he suffers through this and dies as he’s losing on election night,” tweeted Lisa Curry.
“I hope they die!” tweeted a musical started known as Must Die.
“I ONLY EVER WANTED YOU TO SUFFER,” added the entertainer.
“This might be my favorite so far,” tweeted filmmaker Mike Diva in response to a pro-coronavirus meme.
“yeah, the irony of trump catching a disease he let thousands and thousands of people die of it quite delicious,” added YouTube music critic Anthony Fantano, who didn’t waste an opportunity to mention his vegan diet.
“If he dies, it is what it is,” said Khandaghabadi.
“I don’t feel bad about hoping he dies because I’ve been hoping that since 2015,” added Daniel Golson.
“So Trump got COVID huh… Welp if he dies he dies,” tweeted Vstylez.
“‘Hypocrite Donald Trump claims to be pro-life, dies,'” wrote the Gravel Institute, which purports to be a leftist response to PragerU.
“LMFAO TRUMP GONNA DIE,” tweeted Sober Rob.
“die,” wrote Phil Nolan.
“For once, I’m rooting for the virus,” said Simon Abrams’s Vault of Horrors.
“time to die please,” tweeted Chastity.
“PLS DIE PLS DIE PLS DIE,” wrote producer nedarb.
“I’m not one to laugh at other people’s suffering, but…. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA,” wrote Danielle Muscato. “Burn in hell you mother fucker.”
“A nice thing about this is that he’s still around to see how happy we’re all gonna be when he dies,” wrote Sean Burns.
“No, but seriously, I hope he dies,” said Goldy.
“I hope they all die,” said a blue check Twitter user named Bill. “I’m not naming names so I’m not violating twitter’s policy against wishing anyone harm.”
“He killed 200,000 people. Hope he dies a horrible death!” wrote Rob Hoffman.
“I will say: I do hope he dies,” said Brandon Sheffield.
“I’m not gonna pretend and be polite here – i hope Trump fucking dies a painful COVID death and I’m not sorry,” wrote Brad Gallaway.
A Twitter spokesperson told Breitbart News: “Content that wishes, hopes or expresses a desire for death, serious bodily harm or fatal disease against an individual is against our rules and we’ll take action accordingly.”
Update — Breitbart News added a statement from Twitter
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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