Trump touts 'very important' social media summit featuring activist who claimed Kamala Harris is 'not an American Black'

President Trump.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

President Trump on Thursday touted a "very important" social media summit at the White House, which will not feature anyone from Facebook or Twitter but instead numerous far-right figures.

Those who have been invited to the summit on Thursday afternoon include conservative radio host Bill Mitchell, a promoter of the QAnon conspiracy, as well as Ali Alexander, the activist who recently attacked Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) on Twitter by claiming she is "not an American black," Politico reports. This claim about Harris that Democrats quickly condemned as racist was shared in a tweet by Donald Trump Jr., although he subsequently deleted it.

Other invitees include a troll who won a meme contest held by Alex Jones' InfoWars and James O'Keefe, known for his deceptively-edited undercover videos, CNN reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Trump said on Thursday that this summit will be focused on alleged "dishonesty, bias, discrimination and suppression" by social media companies, threatening that "we will not let them get away with it much longer."The Daily Beast notes that the White House does not seem to have actually invited anyone who has been banned by Facebook or Twitter, much to the chagrin of even more extremist personalities who have been. Referencing the conspiracy theorist who has been banned from Twitter, an administration official told the Beast, "What benefit would it be to anyone if Laura Loomer were in the same room with the president? Why on earth would we do that? We aren’t that stupid. Come on.”

Still, this summit, CNN media reporter Oliver Darcy writes, is "perhaps the clearest example yet of President Trump legitimizing fringe political allies."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.