Donald Trump's appearance on Monday in Estero, Fla., got eclipsed by comments made by his son, Donald Trump Jr., about Syrian refugees.
Tweeting an image with the "Make America Great Again" logo, he compared Syrian refugees to poisoned Skittles. The caption reads: "The image says it all. Let's end the politically correct agenda that doesn't put America first."
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This image says it all. Let's end the politically correct agenda that doesn't put America first. #trump2016 pic.twitter.com/9fHwog7ssN
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 19, 2016
The U.S. accepted its 10,000th Syrian refugee in late August and plans to accept at least 110,000 more refugees in the fiscal year 2017, a White House official said.
Also worth noting, Obama plans to convene a Refugee Summit on Tuesday involving leaders from Canada, Ethiopia, Germany, Jordan, Mexico and Sweden. His goal? To secure agreements for food aid and to double the number of refugees resettled in third countries each year.
The younger Trump's tweet didn't go over well. Dozens of people, if not more, jumped into the younger Trump's mentions, blasting him for trivializing the plight of the refugees and promoting racial profiling.
Thousands more hammered Trump for his Skittles analogy, making it a trending topic on Twitter (with 89,000 tweets and counting):
10s of thousands of Syrian children have been killed in the war. They aren't Skittles. They're children. Like yours. https://t.co/y51TW9Jeq1
— Jason Sparks (@sparksjls) September 20, 2016
If only we vetted Skittles with the years-long intensity we vet refugees. https://t.co/NjwWaxzB2p
— Mary Beth Schneider (@marybschneider) September 20, 2016
I am calling for a total and complete shutdown of Skittles entering the US until our leaders can figure out what is going on.
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) September 20, 2016
By that logic, you would take everyone's guns away. Because someone is gonna kill somebody at some point. But I guess that doesn't count. https://t.co/3BraX0Ew19
— John Legend (@johnlegend) September 20, 2016
Skittles PR team staring at Twitter rn pic.twitter.com/lCWaho0C6O
— Marcus Gilmer (@marcusgilmer) September 20, 2016
.@Skittles, FYI, this is a big deal to me, as someone who loves to buy your candy. Please intercede with the Trump campaign. https://t.co/WSdzJUWMhx
— Andie the Obamanista (@TheObamanista) September 20, 2016
Here @Skittles I got you. "For every pack of Skittles you buy between now and Nov. 8, we'll donate $1 to support refugees."
— Kyle (@heydudekyle) September 20, 2016
As Americans may remember, this is not the first time the colorful candies were thrust into the national spotlight over a serious, political debate.
Trayvon Martin, 17, had left his father's house to go to the store the night of Feb. 26, 2012, and bought a bag of Skittles and an Arizona watermelon-flavored drink when he was confronted by a neighborhood watch volunteer, George Zimmerman. After Zimmerman shot and killed Martin during a scuffle, those calling for the volunteer's prosecution and conviction often described Martin as an innocent black boy armed with nothing but a hooded sweatshirt and a bag of Skittles.
But the analogy in reference to Syrian refugees isn't new either.
That skittles analogy has been going around in Europe for years. I know that cause many Germans say it to me, forgetting that I'm a skittle
— Lexi Alexander (@Lexialex) September 20, 2016
