Donald Trump Jr has invoked the wrath of social media users for suggesting Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was the fault of they/them pronouns.
The former US president’s eldest son immediately earned condemnation for the tweet on Thursday, with many arguing it was both alarmist and transphobic.
He tweeted: “Maybe it’s time we start worrying about real s*** instead of our pronouns?”
“Good thing using someone’s preferred pronouns takes two seconds,” wrote one Twitter user. “The real s*** takes much longer, and, sorry for you, isn’t meme-able.”
Another wrote: “So you agree, the culture war was manufactured bulls*** intended to distract us from real issues?”
For months, figures on the American right have escalated attacks both on LGBT+ youths as well as Ukraine, an American and Nato ally in Eastern Europe.
His father and former Republican president, Donald Trump, released a statement on Thursday claiming the war would not have happened “under the Trump Administration...Not even a possibility!”
Mr Trump was famously impeached by the US House of Representatives for allegedly pressuring Ukraine to dig up dirt on US President Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, before the US election in 2016.
He has in recent days described Russian president Vladimir Putin’s advances into Ukraine as “savvy” and “genius”. The country is however under assault by land, air and sea.
“I submit that a country that seriously worried about real s*** would not have elected a game show host to lead it,” another Twitter user theorised on Thursday, in an apparent dig at Mr Trump’s hosting of The Apprentice before being elected US president.
The same user added: “ I will also observe that while Twitter is certainly not representative, hereabouts the people who seem most worried about pronouns tend to be on Mr Trump’s side”.
