Actress Patricia Arquette says racism’s getting worse in the Trump era, and has this story to prove it:
I have a black friend in New Orleans who says since Trump the outright racist comments she gets day in day out are relentless. She says this is a direct result of Trump. It is disgusting and infuriating. It is the worst of America.
— Patricia Arquette (@PattyArquette) July 31, 2018
There’s not shortage of people taking Arquette’s tweet at face value and agreeing it’s gotten that bad. Meanwhile, Arquette’s approach sounded familiar:
Will "I have a black friend who says" X, Y, or Z become the new "My 9-year-old asked me yesterday…"? https://t.co/A6jYw7KAtT
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) August 1, 2018
"a black friend" is her version of a woke 9-year-old. https://t.co/O195j6WVU3
— JWF (@JammieWF) August 1, 2018
There’s certainly been a rise in that storytelling style in the age of Trump!
"I hate you and I am saying this because of Trump"
Seems legit https://t.co/MeV6yYGscl
— Robert Kroese (@robkroese) August 1, 2018
https://twitter.com/meritegood/status/1024330825943269376
However, one anecdotal claim can be met by another:
Huh. That's fascinating. Funny thing is, I have a TON of black New Orleans patients who are quite pleased with how things are going with Trump in charge.
And I'm FAR from a fan of his. https://t.co/NL74zIrBSx
— tmi3rd (@tmi3rd) August 1, 2018
I have a friend in NOLA who says your friend is full of it https://t.co/71Vx8oLWnD
— liam rogers (@rogersliam) August 1, 2018
Well now we don’t know who to believe! *Eye roll*
https://twitter.com/JesseKellyDC/status/1024731661588672512
Gotta be true if somebody says a friend said it, right?