One promise that President Obama failed to follow through on during his eight years in the White House was to close Guantanamo Bay prison. Gitmo is often a hot topic in politics, and President-elect Donald Trump was quick to sound off on Twitter on Tuesday morning.
Trump on Gitmo
President Obama, as well as most Democrats, have long pushed to have the prison in Guantanamo Bay closed. Republicans, on the other hand, take the opposite approach and support Gitmo, citing a rise in Islamic terrorism and the need for increased interrogation. During the campaign, Donald Trump didn't just support the continuation of Gitmo, but also the reinstatement of the use of waterboarding and other torture methods.
On his official Twitter account on January 3, the president-elect continued his thoughts on the issue.
There should be no further releases from Gitmo. These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2017
"There should be no further releases from Gitmo," Donald Trump wrote in Twitter, while adding, "These are extremely dangerous people and should not be allowed back onto the battlefield." Trump's comments come as ISIS and other Islamic terrorist groups continue to spread their religious ideology out of the Middle East and into the West. Over the last two weeks, Islamic terrorist attacks have occurred in Germany, Turkey, and Istanbul, which only highlight the issue of tackling extremism.
@realDonaldTrump You are an extremely dangerous person. Maybe we should send you there.
— Kelly Scaletta (@KellyScaletta) January 3, 2017
Trump backlash
In response to Trump's tweet, social media users were quick to fire back. "You are an extremely dangerous person. Maybe we should send you there," Huffington Post political blogger Kelyl Scaletta wrote.
"Your sociopathic narcissism is a liability America can't afford," HBO producer T. Rafeal Cimino wrote on Twitter, while attaching a photoshopped image of Trump as a canned meat.
@realDonaldTrump Guantánamo Bay is a massive billboard, advertising for extremists. Not to mention it is completely unconstitutional and it violates Geneva
— Ethan Embry (@EmbryEthan) January 3, 2017
@realDonaldTrump Your sociopathic narcissism is a liability America can't afford. @cnnpolitics #antitrump #trumpleaks #trump #trumptrain pic.twitter.com/ZaGJAN0vxE
— T. Rafael Cimino (@TRafaelCimino) January 3, 2017
"Innocent people were put in Gitmo simply for wearing the same watch as terrorists used," writer Scott Santens tweeted, while adding, "Not all are "extremely dangerous." Actor Ethan Embry also got in on the action, hitting back at the former host of "The Apprentice." "Guantanamo Bay is a massive billboard, advertising for extremists," Embry wrote, also noting, "Not to mention it is completely unconstitutional and it violates Geneva." While it's unknown at this point what Donald Trump will do on the issue of Gitmo, it's expected he will take a drastically different approach than what has been happening in the White House.
