Donald Trump Jr, the US president’s eldest son, retweeted and deleted a post on Thursday which falsely claimed that Kamala Harris is not “an American black”.
Ms Harris is black and of Indian and Jamaican descent, but right-wing conspiracy accounts were quick to spread false information about her lineage and citizenship online.
The California senator’s race was a particular target online during Thursday’s Democratic primary debate.
“Kamala Harris is *not* an American Black. She is half Indian and half Jamaican,” claimed a social media user with the name Ali Alexander.
His tweet was re-tweeted on Thursday by Donald Trump Jr, according to The New York Times.
1/29 Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault
When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: “Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?”
AFP/Getty
2/29 Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London
Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Saduq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a “terrible job”as mayor and that he is a “stone cold loser”
Reuters
3/29 Taking plenty of “Executive Time”
The President’s official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for “Executive Time”. Further intermittent periods of “Executive Time” are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting
Getty
4/29 Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall
With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the President has faced difficulty in raising the required $5 billion at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and congress’ refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history
Getty
5/29 Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron
In this tweet on November 13, the President mocks Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion of a “true, European army” by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars
6/29 Railing against the Mueller investigation
The President has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a “rigged witch hunt”
Reuters
7/29 Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin
In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Mr. Trump
Getty
8/29 Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling
Following furious backlash in the US, the President claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it wouldn’t have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment
Reuters
9/29 Colouring in the US flag wrong
The President coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children’s hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes
AFP/Getty
10/29 Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter
The President announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
11/29 Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality
While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the President made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show “The Apprentice”: you’re fired!
Reuters
12/29 Calling African nations “S***hole Countries”
Ever one for diplomacy, the President reportedly referred to African nations as “s***hole countries”. Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria’s President Buhari, Mr. Trump stated that there are “some countries that are in very bad shape.”
Reuters
13/29 Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?”
Reuters
14/29 Asking for people to ‘pray’ for Arnold Schwarzenegger
At the National Prayer Breakfast, Donald Trump couldn’t help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of “The Apprentice” — which buoyed Mr Trump’s celebrity status years ago
Getty
15/29 Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull
Early in his presidency, Donald Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the “worst call” he had had so far
Getty
16/29 The ‘Muslim ban’
Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administration’s argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security
Getty
17/29 Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage
After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Donald Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the President picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there
AP
18/29 Calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ‘Little Rocket Man’
During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Donald Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be “little Rocket Man” as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea
19/29 Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack
After the attack on the London Bridge, Donald Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticizing Mr Khan for saying there was “no reason to be alarmed” after the attack. Mr Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Mr Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control
Getty
20/29 Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was ‘bleeding from the face’
Never one not to mock his enemies, Donald Trump mocked MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to “join” him. He noted that she was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” at the time, and that he said no
MSNBC
21/29 Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on ‘both sides’
Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at ‘the march for the right’ protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer
AP
22/29 Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a ‘Trump train’
Donald Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet
23/29 Tweeting about ‘slamming’ CNN
Donald Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Mr Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of “fake news”
24/29 Firing head of the FBI, James Comey
Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop
Getty
25/29 Not realising being president would be ‘hard’
Just three months into his presidency, Donald Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Mr Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire
Reuters
26/29 Accusing Obama of wiretapping him
Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Mr Obama had not, in fact, done so
Reuters
27/29 Claiming there had been 3 million ‘illegal votes’
Donald Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Ms Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.)
28/29 Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement
Just days after taking office, Donald Trump’s White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didn’t mention “jews” or even the word “jewish” in the written statement
Getty
29/29 Anger over Inauguration crowd size
Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever.
Relatedly, Mr Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didn’t, the day was very dreary
Reuters
1/29 Flippantly dismissing a serious allegation of sexual assault
When author E Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her, the president responded: “Number one, she’s not my type. Number two, it never happened. It never happened, OK?”
AFP/Getty
2/29 Insulting the Mayor of London as he landed in London
Just before touching down at Stansted Airport for his state visit, Trump took time out to @ the London mayor Saduq Khan on twitter. He said that Khan has done a “terrible job”as mayor and that he is a “stone cold loser”
Reuters
3/29 Taking plenty of “Executive Time”
The President’s official schedule sets aside the hours from 8 to 11am daily for “Executive Time”. Further intermittent periods of “Executive Time” are scheduled throughout any given day, ranging from 15 minutes to 3 hours. His duties in these hours have not been officially disclosed, though Axios reports that he spends them watching TV, reading the newspapers and tweeting
Getty
4/29 Shutdown the government for over a month in an effort to secure funding for his wall
With Mexico declining to pay for the wall, the President has faced difficulty in raising the required $5 billion at home. Due to his demand that the money for the wall be included in the budget, and congress’ refusal, the government partially shut down on 22 December 2018. It remained shut for over a month, the longest period in history
Getty
5/29 Joking about the Nazi occupation of France to President Macron
In this tweet on November 13, the President mocks Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion of a “true, European army” by invoking the conflict between France and Germany in the world wars
6/29 Railing against the Mueller investigation
The President has repeatedly claimed that the Mueller investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election, is a “rigged witch hunt”
Reuters
7/29 Contradicting a US intelligence report on Russian meddling in the presence of Vladimir Putin
In the press conference that followed his landmark meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Trump stated that he saw no reason why Russia would have meddled in the 2016 US election. This contradicted a 2017 report by the US Office of the Director of National Intelligence that found evidence of Russian interference in favour of Mr. Trump
Getty
8/29 Contradicting his contradiction of a US intelligence report on Russian meddling
Following furious backlash in the US, the President claimed that he meant to say that he saw no reason why it wouldn’t have been Russia who meddled in the 2016 US election. As to why he would have intended to use such bizarre phrasing, he did not comment
Reuters
9/29 Colouring in the US flag wrong
The President coloured in the US flag wrongly during a visit to a children’s hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He added a blue stripe where in tradition, and statute, there have been only white and red stripes
AFP/Getty
10/29 Firing a Secretary of State over Twitter
The President announced on Twitter that he was appointing Mike Pompeo as Secretary of State, much to the surprise of then Secretary of State Rex Tillerson
11/29 Quoting a catchphrase from a reality TV show when discussing police brutality
While addressing the issue of black athletes not standing for the national anthem in protest of police brutality, the President made reference to his catchphrase from reality TV show “The Apprentice”: you’re fired!
Reuters
12/29 Calling African nations “S***hole Countries”
Ever one for diplomacy, the President reportedly referred to African nations as “s***hole countries”. Asked to confirm this when meeting with Nigeria’s President Buhari, Mr. Trump stated that there are “some countries that are in very bad shape.”
Reuters
13/29 Defending Russian President Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump appeared to equate US foreign actions to those of Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying, “There are a lot of killers. You think our country’s so innocent?”
Reuters
14/29 Asking for people to ‘pray’ for Arnold Schwarzenegger
At the National Prayer Breakfast, Donald Trump couldn’t help but to ask for prayers for the ratings on Arnold Schwarzenegger’s show to be good. Schwarzenegger took over as host of “The Apprentice” — which buoyed Mr Trump’s celebrity status years ago
Getty
15/29 Hanging up on Australian PM Malcolm Turnbull
Early in his presidency, Donald Trump reportedly hung up the phone on Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull after the foreign leader angered him over refugee plans. Mr Trump later said that it was the “worst call” he had had so far
Getty
16/29 The ‘Muslim ban’
Perhaps one of his most controversial policies while acting as president, Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting predominantly Muslim countries has bought him a lot of criticism. The bans were immediately protested, and judges initially blocked their implementation. The Supreme Court later sided with the administration’s argument that the ban was developed out of concern for US security
Getty
17/29 Praising crowd size while touring Hurricane Harvey damage
After Hurricane Harvey ravaged southeastern Texas, Donald Trump paid the area a visit. While his response to the disaster in Houston was generally applauded, the President picked up some flack when he gave a speech outside Houston (he reportedly did not visit disaster zones), and praised the size of the crowds there
AP
18/29 Calling North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ‘Little Rocket Man’
During his first-ever speech to the United Nations General Assembly, Donald Trump tried out a new nickname for North Korea leader Kim Jong-un: Rocket Man. He later tweaked it to be “little Rocket Man” as the two feuded, and threatened each other with nuclear war. During that speech, he also threatened to totally annihilate North Korea
19/29 Attacking Sadiq Khan following London Bridge terror attack
After the attack on the London Bridge, Donald Trump lashed out at London Mayor Sadiq Khan, criticizing Mr Khan for saying there was “no reason to be alarmed” after the attack. Mr Trump was taking the comments out of context, as Mr Khan was simply saying that the police had everything under control
Getty
20/29 Claiming presenter Mika Brezinkski was ‘bleeding from the face’
Never one not to mock his enemies, Donald Trump mocked MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, saying that she and co-host Joe Scarborough had approached him before his inauguration asking to “join” him. He noted that she was “bleeding badly from a face-lift” at the time, and that he said no
MSNBC
21/29 Claiming the blame for Charlottesville was on ‘both sides’
Trump refused to condemn far-right extremists involved in violence at ‘the march for the right’ protests in Charlottesville, even after the murder of counter protester Heather Heyer
AP
22/29 Retweeting cartoon of CNN being hit by a ‘Trump train’
Donald Trump retweeted a cartoon showing a Trump-branded train running over a person whose body and head were replaced by a CNN avatar. He later deleted the retweet
23/29 Tweeting about ‘slamming’ CNN
Donald Trump caught some flack when he tweeted a video showing him wrestling down an individual whose head had been replaced by a CNN avatar. Mr Trump has singled CNN out in particular with his chants of “fake news”
24/29 Firing head of the FBI, James Comey
Donald Trump’s firing of former FBI Director James Comey landed him with a federal investigation into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election that has caused many a headache for the White House. The White House initially said that the decision was made after consultation from the Justice Department. Then Mr Trump himself said that he had decided to fire him in part because he wanted the Russia investigation Mr Comey was conducting to stop
Getty
25/29 Not realising being president would be ‘hard’
Just three months into his presidency, Donald Trump admitted that being president is harder than he thought it would be. Though Mr Trump insisted on the 2016 campaign trail that doing the job would be easy for him, he admitted in an interview that living in the White House is harder than running a business empire
Reuters
26/29 Accusing Obama of wiretapping him
Donald Trump accused former President Barack Obama of wire tapping him on twitter. The Justice Department later clarified: Mr Obama had not, in fact, done so
Reuters
27/29 Claiming there had been 3 million ‘illegal votes’
Donald Trump was never very happy about losing the popular vote to Hillary Clinton by 2.8 million ballots. So, he and White House voter-fraud commissioner Kris Kobach have claimed that anywhere between three and five million people voted illegally during the 2016 election. Conveniently, he says that all of those illegal votes went to Ms Clinton. (There is no evidence to support that level of widespread voter fraud.)
28/29 Leaving Jews out of the Holocaust memorial statement
Just days after taking office, Donald Trump’s White House issued a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, but didn’t mention “jews” or even the word “jewish” in the written statement
Getty
29/29 Anger over Inauguration crowd size
Donald Trump’s inauguration crowd was visibly, and noticeably, smaller than that of his predecessor, Barack Obama. But, he really wanted to have had the largest crowd on record. So, he praised it as the biggest crowd ever.
Relatedly, Mr Trump also claimed that it stopped raining in Washington at the moment he was inaugurated. It didn’t, the day was very dreary
Reuters
The US president’s eldest son has 3.64m followers on Twitter.
“Is this true?” Mr Trump Jr said. “Wow.”
He later deleted the post, but the misinformation had spread widely by the time the tweet was removed.
“Don’s tweet was simply him asking if it was true that Kamala Harris was half-Indian because it’s not something he had ever heard before,” a spokesperson told The New York Times.
“Once he saw that folks were misconstruing the intent of his tweet, he quickly deleted it.”
Conspiracy theories questioning Ms Harris’ ethnicity spread online as the Democratic primary hopeful addressed race and politics during Thursday’s debate.
“Growing up, my sister and I had to deal with the neighbour who told us her parents couldn’t play with us…because we were black,” the California senator said.
She also accused Joe Biden, the former US vice president, of being previously opposed to “busing”, a policy which helped to integrate public schools in the US.
Busing began in the 1970s and involved white and black students taking buses to attend schools far from where they lived in order to desegregate them.
Mr Biden denies having been opposed to the policy.
“There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day,” Ms Harris said.
“And that little girl was me.”
Her debate performance won praise and attention but right-wing figures were quick to try and downplay Ms Harris’ identification as “black”.
Several attempted to use Ms Harris’ Indian descent against her.
“Kamala Harris would be the first Asian president,” said Jack Posobiec, a notorious alt-right figure, on Saturday.
Mr Posobiec is famed for promoting wholly erroneous conspiracy theories.
He is best known for the Pizzagate conspiracy, which falsely alleged a Washington pizzeria was the home of a child sex abuse ring that included people such as Hilary Clinton and her then campaign chief John Podesta.
The baseless allegations led to a man firing a gun at the pizza joint in 2016.
Ms Harris has previously linked the right-wing discussion about her race to that faced by Barack Obama.
“This is the same thing they did to Barack, this is not new to us,” she said in February 2019, in an interview broadcast by CNN.
Mr Obama, who was born in Hawaii, famously faced alt-right theories that falsely claimed he was not born in the US and was therefore not eligible to be president.
The so-called “birtherism” movement was championed by Donald Trump, who succeeded Mr Obama as president in 2017.
“Powerful voices trying to sow hate and division among us,” Ms Harris said in the February interview. “And so we need to recognise when we’re being played.”
Ms Harris, a former prosecutor, is one of a number of high profile Democrats seeking to become the party’s 2020 presidential candidate.
