Trump is promoting hatred, says husband of murdered MP Jo Cox
Brendan Cox hits back at president after he attacked PM for criticising far-right tweets saying he should focus on US shootings
Brendan Cox, the widower of the murdered MP Jo Cox, has continued to rebuke Donald Trump after the president stood by his promotion of unverified Islamophobic hate videos in the face of international condemnation.
In a defiant tweet, Trump publicly rebuked Theresa May over her criticism of his decision to retweet anti-Muslim propaganda videos from the far-right group Britain First, by urging her to focus on Islamic terrorism.
Cox hit back at the president in a tweet urging Trump to focus on daily mass shootings in the US and the poor state of American healthcare.
And in a interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, he accused Trump of having the mental age of a toddler and said that his young children would make better diplomats.
Cox’s wife, Jo, was murdered by Thomas Mair, an extremist who shouted “Britain first” when he fired his gun.
Within minutes of Trump retweeting three unverified videos by the group on Wednesday, Cox accused him of spreading hatred.
Later in an article in the Guardian, he wrote: “Hate preachers aren’t only Islamists, they exist on the far right too. Britain First is one such group of hate preachers, in this case dedicated to driving hatred chiefly against the Muslim community of our country. It was Jayda Fransen, its deputy leader, whose tweets of inflammatory videos were conveyed by the president to his 43.6 million Twitter followers … We know where that kind of poison can lead.”
Speaking to ITV on Thursday, he added: “This is a criminal group of people being retweeted by the president of our closest ally and that is a problem, because hatred has impact. When you drive hatred it has consequences, people lose family members. I am testament to that. Wherever that hatred comes from we need to crack down on it and this president is promoting it.”
Cox said May should withdraw her invitation to host Trump on state visit to the UK, but he predicted it would not take place even if the invitation is not formally withdrawn.
Cox said: “His actions of the past year have already meant that that state visit, which was offered too quickly, has already in fact been rescinded. Of course they are not going to say it because it would create all sorts of tension, but it’s not going to happen. It wasn’t going to happen before this and it’s certainly not going to happen now.”
But Cox said he had “some sympathy” for the government in having to deal with Trump.
He said: “Our most important relationship is now mediated through this man who has the mental approach of a toddler. That’s probably being harsh to toddlers. I think my kids would deal with international affairs in a much more effective way.”
Cox has two children aged six and five.
