
President Donald Trump Tuesday endorsed the as-yet undeclared congressional candidacy of former baseball great Curt Schilling, who helped lead his teams to World Series championships four times.
Schilling in his post-baseball years has become a far right wing political commentator who has endorsed Donald Trump and who even promotes the false QAnon conspiracy theory.
Despite Schilling’s horrific history, President Donald Trump felt the need to praise him on Twitter – while making it clear the president saw him on “Fox and Friends.”
Curt Schilling, a great pitcher and patriot, is considering a run for Congress in Arizona. Terrific! @foxandfriends— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1565698605.0
Many immediately took to Twitter to provide an important background check.
Among them, Parkland massacre survivor and activist David Hogg, who alluded to, as Yahoo News reported, the fact Schilling last year retweeted “a conspiracy theory that alleges one of the survivors from the mass shooting at Majory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. was actually a paid crisis actor.”
@realDonaldTrump @foxandfriends He claimed parkland was a hoax— David Hogg 📢 (@David Hogg 📢) 1565705443.0
Daily Beast columnist Dean Obeidallah pointed to a 2016 Washington Post piece titled, “The radicalization of Curt Schilling,”
@realDonaldTrump @foxandfriends Trump of course praises a guy fired for his anti-LGBT comments and for demonizing M… https://t.co/FJQ49gqxS1— (((DeanObeidallah))) (@(((DeanObeidallah)))) 1565699912.0
Schilling at the time had just lost his ESPN gig after sharing on Facebook a vile transphobic meme, making clear what direction he was going to take his career in.
“Let him in!” the tweet read. “To the restroom with your daughter or else you’re a narrow minded, judgmental, unloving, racist bigot who needs to die!!!”
This is ESPN's Curt Schilling's disgusting view of transgender people #HB2 https://t.co/7DKRXDL4GL https://t.co/hLNhtRf9xe— Outsports (@Outsports) 1461091477.0
And here are some more responses to Trump’s endorsement of Schilling’s potential congressional run:
So, if you're an athlete like Lebron James, you should "shut up and dribble," but if you're an athlete that gets f… https://t.co/ohUGTup8ic— Brandon Besserer (@Brandon Besserer) 1565701947.0
Trump is now encouraging well known bigot, sketchy businessman and Nazi memorabilia collector Curt Schilling to inf… https://t.co/mwWvYzsig6— Amee Vanderpool (@Amee Vanderpool) 1565703924.0
Considering Schilling managed to drive a video game company into bankruptcy during the height of the video game boo… https://t.co/LVvtypYLXT— John Rogers (@John Rogers) 1565708590.0
<blinks in disbelief> ...the guy who basically defrauded Rhode Island for 75 million dollars? I've met that guy.… https://t.co/Xith1VYKoq— SwarmOfBeesInADress (@SwarmOfBeesInADress) 1565709640.0
White supremacists gotta stick together, right?! https://t.co/NRn35aR9rE— Matt Rogers 🗳 (@Matt Rogers 🗳) 1565708033.0
You forgot "racist". Schilling is racist just like you. https://t.co/V8BUTz2l87— BlueJaysTwit (@BlueJaysTwit) 1565701362.0