Donald Trump Slammed For Choosing Tulsa On ‘Juneteenth’ For First Campaign Rally In Months

Donald Trump and his campaign announced that he would hold a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Friday, June 19. The president was slammed on Twitter for choosing the city and the date, which is known as “Juneteenth.”

Kyle Griffin, senior producer of MSNBC’s The Last Word, announced the news on Twitter, where he pondered the Trump campaign’s choice of dates.

“Trump will hold his first rally in months on June 19 in Tulsa. June 19 is Juneteenth. The campaign’s choice of Tulsa on Juneteenth is curious given the city’s history. The worst single incident of racial violence in US history occurred in Tulsa in 1921.”

Juneteenth is the oldest national celebration of the end of slavery in the United States. As for Tulsa, Oklahoma, the city recently marked the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre in which the affluent black neighborhood of Greenwood, often called Black Wall Street, was destroyed on June 1, 1921, by white rioters, according to Tulsa History.

Griffin’s tweet got some attention on the popular social media platform, with nearly 4,500 users hitting the “like” button and 3,200 retweeting the comment. Almost 500 Twitter users posted replies. Several noted that they felt the campaign chose the rally’s date on purpose, but others thought it was an accidental flub.

“They’re doing it on purpose, my dude. DJT and his entire rotten administration are the worst of humanity,” replied one user.

However, not everybody felt the move was a bad one. Some even held out hope that the president had big plans for his first rally back after the coronavirus pandemic led to widespread shutdowns throughout the United States.

“Maybe he’ll use the anniversary as an opportunity to announce a new dawn and a new day of racial quality in the United States,” one account responded.

Still, others questioned whether the president even knows the significance of Juneteenth or what it stands for.

“Trump knows nothing about Juneteenth OR about the Tulsa white riot that destroyed the black community of Greenwood,” wrote a third person.

While some accounts that responded felt the whole campaign had no idea, at least a few wondered if somebody inside Trump’s inner circle wanted to sabotage the president. However, some people believed that whoever chose the date and location knew the details and wanted to play to his perceived base.

Several responses called for massive protests during the event, with people flying in from around the country to take to the streets, but others warned that it was what the campaign hoped for and advised people not to fall for the bait.

Journalist Molly Jong-Fast retweeted Griffin’s tweet with much harsher words about the whole situation. Many of those who responded also slammed Trump for the choice.