Supporters of Donald Trump are up in arms after National Public Radio sent out a series of tweets that they claimed to be a call for revolution and violence against their beloved leader.
The Morning Edition , a segment of the NPR, has a long-standing tradition of reading the Declaration of Independence to celebrate the Fourth of July. It has done so for the past 29 years, so avid NPR listeners know what to expect on Independence Day. This year, NPR decided to use Twitter as its venue to commemorate the momentous event.
NPR tweeted the 241-year-old Declaration of Independence line by line. The radio show sent out over 100 tweets on Tuesday. However, instead of receiving praise for using technology to continue its tradition and for taking pride in the nation’s history, NPR was met with backlash from supporters of Trump.
Interestingly, those who called out NPR for the tweets thought that the company was biased against Trump. They believed that the tweets were “propaganda” while others labeled the words of the country’s founding document as “trash.” Some of these Trump supporters even thought that NPR was trying to incite a revolution to topple a sitting president. They also believed that NPR was condoning violence as a means to bring Trump down.
NPR’s Declaration of Independence tweetstorm angered some Trump supporters https://t.co/76aRQ4V3jz
— Salon (@Salon) July 5, 2017
So, NPR is calling for revolution. Interesting way to condone the violence while trying to sound “patriotic”. Your implications are clear.
— D.G.Davies (@JustEsrafel) July 4, 2017
Many of the lines of the Declaration of Independence referenced the current political turmoil in the United States, as Newsweek pointed out.
One of the most retweeted posts by NPR read, “A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.”
Some Twitter users quickly pointed out how the “Tyrant” in this particular line from the Declaration of Independence “sounded” like Trump. In fact, one particular Twitter user tweeted, “Does this sound like someone we know,” before tagging Trump’s official Twitter account.
‘Calling for a revolution!’: Trump fans ‘triggered’ after NPR tweets out the Declaration of Independence https://t.co/oM5hwiRaOC pic.twitter.com/NghrnH6gil
— Raw Story (@RawStory) July 5, 2017
Trump supporters have reason to believe that NPR was going after the president. NPR is one of those affected by Trump’s budget proposal. The proposal would’ve slashed the budget for the arts, humanities, and public media, which NPR is categorized under. This led some of the angry yet confused Trump supporters to tweet back that NPR deserved to lose federal funding for its subversive rhetoric , Raw Story reported.
Despite the confusion, some of those who read the Independence Day tweets and recognized the words gave NPR the rightful praise it deserved. Many, however, called out the Trump supporters for their ignorance.
Since trump fans didn’t know what Declaration of Independence was and cited NPR for treason for tweeting it, will they call DofI fake news?
— Kurt Eichenwald (@kurteichenwald) July 5, 2017
A few of the replies to @NPR ’s tweeting the Declaration of Independence on this, the 4th of July. pic.twitter.com/v56DGg57Nt
— Brent Jones (@brentajones) July 4, 2017
there’s nothing more american than getting pissed because you think the declaration of independence is shitting on the president pic.twitter.com/gkWSTR8SIY
— Goth Ms. Frizzle (@spookperson) July 4, 2017
There are those who pointed out that those people who did not recognize the Declaration of Independence are sadly a clear reflection of the current state of education. Some also remarked that it says a lot about many Americans’ lack of knowledge regarding their own country, especially its history.
[Featured Image by Engraving Hulton Archive/Getty Images]