Donald Trump has mocked Republican senator Mitt Romney over his decision to march with Black Lives Matter demonstrators in Washington DC this weekend.
The Utah senator and 2012 Republican presidential candidate has been the only Republican senator seen at demonstrations sparked by George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis police custody two weeks ago.
But the US president, who has instead threatened protesters with US military intervention and erected barriers around the White House, mocked Mr Romney’s participation on Twitter.
“Tremendous sincerity, what a guy,” wrote Mr Trump on Monday. “Hard to believe, with this kind of political talent, his numbers would “tank” so badly in Utah!”
Mr Romney, who was marching meters from the White House on Sunday, told a reporter that he was marching “to end violence and brutality”.
In a video that was praised online, and condemned by president Trump, the Republican added that he wanted to “make sure that people understand that black lives matter”.
The senator later uploaded two images from the scene to Twitter on Sunday, with the caption “Black Lives Matter.”
On Saturday, Mr Romney had shared a photograph featuring his father, the former Michigan governor George Romney, who marched in a civil rights demonstration in the late 1960s.
The elder Mr Romney, who was governor during protests amid racial tension in Detroit in 1967, had said at the time that “Force alone will not eliminate riots. We must eliminate the problems from which they stem.”
The Utah senator said last month that Mr Floyd’s “murder is abhorrent” and that “Peaceful protests underscore the urgency of addressing injustices.”
Mr Trump’s criticism comes amid new polling that puts more distance between the White House incumbent and his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden.
