Politics- Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday compared immigrants to zoo animals in a controversial post to Instagram regarding the wall his father wants to build along the US-Mexico border.
- Trump Jr. has since deleted the post, which said, "You know why you can enjoy a day at the zoo? Because walls work."
- Trump Jr.'s social media habits, much like his father's, have often landed him in hot water.
Donald Trump Jr. on Tuesday compared immigrants to zoo animals in a controversial Instagram story regarding the wall his father wants to build along the US-Mexico border.
Trump Jr. has since deleted the post, which said, "You know why you can enjoy a day at the zoo? Because walls work."
But many on social media took screenshots of the post before it was taken down, sparking widespread backlash against Trump Jr.
Trump Jr.'s post came amid a partial government shutdown as Democrats in Congress butt heads with the president on the border wall issue, and on the same night his father delivered a nationally-televised speech on border security.
This is not the first time Trump Jr. has incited public outcry regarding his stance on immigration issues.
President Donald Trump's eldest son was broadly condemned during the 2016 presidential campaign when he compared Syrian refugees to a bowl of Skittles in which some of the candies were poisoned.
Trump Jr.'s Tuesday night Instagram post was not far off from statements made by his father. In May 2018, the president compared some groups of immigrants to animals.
"We have people coming into the country, or trying to come in, we're stopping a lot of them, but we're taking people out of the country, you wouldn't believe how bad these people are," Trump said during a meeting with California lawmakers and officials..
"These aren't people. These are animals, and we're taking them out of the country at a rate that's never happened before," Trump added.
Trump Jr.'s social media habits, much like his father's, have often landed him in hot water. He's gained a reputation for sharing incorrect or misleading information.
In October 2018, for example, he got the date of the midterm elections wrong in a tweet as he called on people to get out and vote. And on Wednesday, he tweeted an article that was two years old regarding an increase in auto factory jobs in the US, presumably celebrating it as a new development.
But Trump Jr. also remains one of his father's most impactful surrogates, and continues to gain popularity among some groups of conservatives.
Trump Jr. did not immediately respond to a request for comment from INSIDER.
Immigrants as caged animals, from the First Son pic.twitter.com/nsAJRASvnM
- Emily Jane Fox (@emilyjanefox) January 9, 2019