WASHINGTON, DC: The White House remained tight-lipped this week in response to resurfaced social media posts by Tyler Cherry, the Department of the Interior's principal deputy communications director and senior spokesperson.
Despite repeated requests for comment from Fox News, the White House declined to offer any statement regarding Cherry's controversial online history, which includes comments about law enforcement, racial bias, and the debunked "Russiagate" scandal.
Tyler Cherry's controversial social media posts
Cherry, who has been with the Interior Department since early 2021, has a history of using social media, specifically X (formerly known as Twitter), as a platform to express his views on various issues.
In one post from 2015, during the riots following the death of Freddie Gray, a Black man, in police custody in Baltimore, Cherry wrote, "Praying for #Baltimore, but praying even harder for an end to a capitalistic police state motivated by explicit and implicit racial biases."
In another post from that same year, he asserted, "Apt (sic.) time to recall that the modern-day police system is a direct evolution of slave patrols and lynch mobs."
Cherry didn't stop there, drawing parallels between modern police and historical oppression, stating that police were equivalent to "slave patrols" and comparing voter identification laws to poll taxes used to disenfranchise Black voters in the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Cherry's social media history also includes political commentary.
In response to former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly's denial of a significant white power movement in the country in November 2016, Cherry simply replied with a resounding "WRONG." He also accused conservatives within the Republican Party of focusing on "white grievance politics" in a post from 2017.
"The Tea Party was never about the debt/deficit but about racism and white grievance politics," he posted on X.
Notably, in 2018, Cherry called for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Homeland Security Department agency responsible for preventing cross-border crime and illegal immigration. This stance echoed calls from some progressive circles during that time.
Cherry was also a vocal commentator on the Russia investigation during the Trump administration. In May 2017, he questioned the White House's involvement in the "Russia scandal" and pondered how anyone in the White House could not be complicit.
"At this point, how is everyone in the White House (Pence included) *not* complicit in the Russia scandal?" Cherry said at the time.
After an extensive multi-year investigation into whether Trump and his associates colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, former Special Counsel Robert Mueller released a comprehensive report in 2019 that cleared the former president of any wrongdoing.
In addition to his role at the Department of the Interior, Tyler Cherry has a background in political and media work. He previously worked for President Biden's presidential campaign, left-wing consulting firm SKDK, and Media Matters for America, a progressive publication.
While the White House refrained from commenting directly on Cherry's social media posts, it did address what it considered to be personal attacks on him.
A White House spokesperson told The Advocate, an LGBT-focused news outlet, "No one should be targeted simply for being themselves. It is cruel and unacceptable."
They added, "This is an administration that believes to our core in the principle that out of many we are one — and we are proud that the people who serve in it reflect those values as well. Tyler is an invaluable member of our team who continues to deliver for the Department of Interior and the American people."
Social media backlash
The backlash against the Biden administration on social media was swift and intense, with many criticizing Cherry's past comments and questioning the administration's hiring decisions.
"Is this Sam Brinton version 2.0?" one posted on X, referring to a former Biden administration official who was arrested for multiple luggage thefts.
"Another diversity hire that is stuck in perpetual victim mode," another wrote.
"Is there a single member of this administration that is anything close to a healthy, well-adjusted human?" someone else asked.
"It’s like this administration is one big provocation," another chimed in.
