Donald Trump aide defends ‘pure breeds’ tweet after J.K. Rowling calls her a ‘Death Eater’
A spokeswoman for presidential hopeful Donald Trump has defended a 2012 tweet implying that Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are not "pure breeds".
Katrina Pierson came under attack on social media for the comment from prominent figures including Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling.
Despite taking the lead in several GOP polls, Trump has repeatedly been branded as a racist throughout the campaign. Buzzfeed editor-in-chief, Ben Smith, even told the site's journalists that they are allowed to call the Republican "a liar or a racist" on social media as a matter of fact.
The latest scandal emerged in the form of an old tweet from Pierson. She riled many with her use of the term “pure breeds” when discussing 2012 election candidates.
Perfect Obama's dad born in Africa, Mitt Romney's dad born in Mexico. Any pure breeds left? #CNNDebate
— Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) January 20, 2012
Pierson, in an interview with CNN on Sunday evening (25 January), defended the comments claiming: “I’m an activist and I am a half-breed. I’m always getting called a half-breed. And on Twitter when you’re fighting with liberals and even establishment, you go back at them in the same silliness they are giving you.
“So, I myself am a half-breed. We have entered silly season. Donald Trump is up in the polls,” she concluded that the Twitter storm was a “desperate campaign” to “take him down” by targeting “the people that are around him”.
Among the critics of the comment was Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling who likened Pierson to a Death Eater – a group of fictional evil wizards characterised in her novels, who seek to protect magic bloodlines.
Death Eaters walk among us. https://t.co/tqKq1anHpf
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) January 24, 2016
A vocal critic of the Trump campaign, she previously likened the mogul’s racist calls to ban all Muslims from entering the US to the ideology of evil wizard Voldemort, the antagonist in her franchise.
How horrible. Voldemort was nowhere near as bad. https://t.co/hFO0XmOpPH
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) December 8, 2015
Trump's campaign is largely founded upon the immigration debate, with his first TV ad causing waves due to its focus on Muslim and Mexican immigrants in the US.