Ann Coulter is America’s equivalent of Katie Hopkins, a social media megaphone of anti-immigration sentiment.
And she’s possibly the reason why Britain First’s hateful views got beamed to millions of people Wednesday courtesy of the leader of the free world, US President Donald Trump.
Though Trump has more than 43 million Twitter followers, he follows just 45 people. Coluter is one of them, so effectively provides a sewer line of content to his timeline.
On Wednesday, the 55-year-old retweeted one of three inflammatory anti-Islam videos from Britain First’s deputy leader Jayda Fransen that Trump has been condemned for sharing, before the President scrolled further into Fransen’s fascist-fancies to send off two more.
The first tweet falsely claimed to show a “Muslim migrant” attacking a Dutch boy on crutches”, something the Netherlands Embassy has felt the need to correct.
The 16-year-old perpetrator was “born and raised” in the Netherlands, the Embassy wrote in a tweet directed to Trump that declared: “Facts do matter.”
.@realDonaldTrump Facts do matter. The perpetrator of the violent act in this video was born and raised in the Netherlands. He received and completed his sentence under Dutch law.
November 29, 2017
Speaking on the BBC’s Today Progamme on Thursday, Coulter defended Trump’s retweet – along with his subsequent hit back at British Prime Minister Theresa May for condemning him – saying the President had only “given as good as he gets”.
She then went on to dismiss concerns raised about Trump seemingly endorsing content that was being shared to stir up hostility towards Muslims.
“He’s only giving as good as he gets” Ann Coulter defends @realDonaldTrump after he hit out at Theresa May over far-right video tweets. #r4today pic.twitter.com/sjZWaKDasV — BBC Radio 4 Today (@BBCr4today) November 30, 2017
Coulter attempted to school host Nick Robinson on how Twitter is used, saying the source and authenticity of content is irrelevant to users, especially when sharing video: “I don’t think it really matters its a video… that’s not how Twitter works,” she said, before reiterating that “a video is a video, you don’t need to (check it)”.
She also went on to dismiss as “supremely irrelevant” the way Fransen had framed the video by incorrectly suggested it involved a Muslim immigrant.
“The issue is all these Middle Easterners and Muslims been brought in, to pretend that there’s no difference in a 10th generation Dutch person and a migrant, or a chid of a migrant, is preposterous,” Coulter said.
“A lot of this violence… this is what it is all about. This is about Brexit was about, this is what Donald Trump is about…. the constant importation of people who do not share our Western values, that is the point of the issue, and to say, ‘oh well, we were brought in by migrants last year’… this is not Hans or whatever from Amsterdam.”
The Today Programme was so heavily criticised for interviewing Coulter that Robinson felt the need to justify her inclusion on the show.
Dear @bbcnickrobinson I listen to #channel4news every morning. I was shocked by your decision to interview Ann Coulter; a bigoted, alt-right American troll. I cannot fathom why a respected news source would give her a platform on prime-time air. https://t.co/5Qr1d03lNc
November 30, 2017
It’s 2017 and the BBC interviewing Ann Coulter, a woman who after 911 famously said: “We should invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity.”
November 30, 2017
So who is Coulter and how did she become so important to Trump?
1) SHE’S WRITTEN A BOOK ABOUT HIM
Coulter is one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters and in 2016 she published a book called In Trump We Trust: E Pluribus Awesome! in support of his campaign for presidency. The e-book was a New York Times bestseller .
One line in the book that has become more ironic with every day that’s passed since, reads: “Trump is like a Shakespearean ‘fool’: he seems crass because he speaks the truth.”
Coulter is quite the scribe and has turned out 12 political bestsellers.
Titles include How To Talk To A Liberal (If You Must) and Demonic: How the Liberal is Endangering America.
She is also a legal correspondent for Human Events and writes a syndicated column for Universal Press Syndicate.
2) ALSO LIKES TO LEGISLATE AGAINST MIGRANTS
After law school, Coulter served as a law clerk for Pasco Bowman II of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, before specialising in corporate law.
She then worked for the United States Senate Judiciary Committee after the Republican Party took control of Congress in 1994.
Coulter handled crime and immigration issues and helped craft legislation designed to expedite the deportation of foreign nationals convicted of crimes.
3) HATES THE CLINTONS
Coulter rose to prominence in the 1990s by ragging on the Clinton administration, which was the subject of her first book – High Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Case Against Bill Clinton – which detailed her case for impeaching Hillary’s husband, Bill Clinton.
4) AND ‘BALANCE’
Coulter has described herself as a polemicist who likes to “stir up the pot” and does not “pretend to be impartial or balanced”.
5) LIKES TO IMPLY MUSLIMS ARE TERRORISTS
In 2014, she told Fox News: “Instead of arguing about whether we’re allowed to describe Muslim terrorists as ‘Muslim terrorists’ why don’t we argue about whether it’s a good idea to be letting in so many immigrants who then blow up the Boston Marathon?”
6) IS AGAINST GAY MARRIAGE
Coulter claims she is not anti-LGBT, but is against gay marriage.
She insists that her opposition to same-sex marriage isn’t “an anti-gay thing” and that “It’s genuinely a pro-marriage position to oppose gay marriage”.
7) LOVES BEING ON TV – ESPECIALLY FOX
Coulter is a regular guest on current affairs shows, many of which are also Trump’s favourites.
She lists her appearances on her website in this order: Hannity, Piers Morgan, Red Eye, HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher, Fox & Friends (the list goes on).
In 2004 Coulter appeared in three films, a made-for-television documentary called Feeding The Beast, on the 24-Hour News Revolution, FahrenHYPE 9/11, a rebuttal to Michael Moore’s documentary. She was the subject of a documentary called, Is It True What They Say About Ann?.
In 2015, Coulter had a cameo as the Vice President in the made-for-TV movie Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No! Trump was reportedly in talks to play the president in the same film before he ran for the office in the real world.
The top one was a piece in Time Magazine, by John Cloud, headlined: Ms Right.
9) SHE’S OFTEN THE BUTT OF JOKES
During a Comedy Central ‘Roast of Rob Lowe’ in August last year Coulter took the brunt of the burns.
SNL’s Pete Davidson went as far as referring to Coulter as a “racist c**t,” and comedian Jimmy Carr called her “one of most repugnant, hateful, hatchet-face bitches alive.”
“It’s not too late to change, Ann,” said Carr. “You could kill yourself!”