The jury is still out on whether the country should just let Trump be Trump or if someone should take away his smartphone so he can’t tweet anymore. Regardless, ThinkProgress is sounding the alarm today not because of something Trump said in a tweet, but because of one particular account he chose to retweet.
Trump retweets account that traffics in wild conspiracy theories, accused Hillary Clinton of murder https://t.co/Hzm3Rnhw69 pic.twitter.com/C1rtmFNJNW
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) August 5, 2017
Here’s the tweet in question:
We won. Move on. pic.twitter.com/YnUKMoyegB
— Deep State Exposed® (@DeepStateExpose) August 4, 2017
The president was apparently pretty impressed with this electoral map tweeted to him by the account @Team_Trump45 and retweeted it to his 35.2 million followers. ThinkProgress, however, took a closer look at that account and found that the owner “has posted a series of incendiary tweets,” entertaining conspiracy theories about the murder of former DNC staffer Seth Rich and the relationship between Barack Obama and Larry Sinclair.
Honestly, the president could stand to be more careful when hitting that retweet button, but it’s hard to take advice on the subject from ThinkProgress, especially this week.
As Twitchy reported, former Obama Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes on Friday stated outright in a tweet that White House senior adviser Stephen Miller “is a white supremacist.”
Perhaps because Stephen Miller is a white supremacist. https://t.co/c16J1gX4IH
— Ben Rhodes (@brhodes) August 5, 2017
His proof? A tweet from ThinkProgress.
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Stephen Miller’s strange insult of a reporter is very familiar to white supremacists https://t.co/CAsvjjZUos pic.twitter.com/m8qaxACI5b
— ThinkProgress (@thinkprogress) August 5, 2017
1. Stephen Miller attacked the Statue of Liberty poem today, echoing a popular white nationalist talking point https://t.co/z1Q0HkyJoz
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) August 2, 2017
That doesn’t seem like proof of any sort that Miller is a white supremacist. But on Wednesday, following Miller’s back-and-forth with CNN’s Jim Acosta over immigration policy, ThinkProgress published a piece noting that Miller’s factual observation that the lines of poetry quoted by Acosta were not originally part of the Statue of Liberty “is a popular refrain among white nationalists.”
Never mind what Miller actually said, according to CNN’s own transcript: “… the Statue of Liberty is a symbol of liberty and light in the world. It’s a symbol of American liberty lighting the world. The poem that you’re referring that was added later is not actually a part of the original Statue of Liberty.”
Never mind in the first place that “The New Colossus” is a poem and not law; ThinkProgress thought that was enough to link Miller to white supremacists and neo-Nazis, and plenty of lefties aside from Ben Rhodes ran with the suggestion. Chelsea Clinton, for example, thought it was worth spreading to her followers with some “Animal Farm” mixed in.
Aug.2,1776: Congress signs Declaration of Independence
Aug.2,2017: White House submits some people are created more equal than others &? https://t.co/lH4tSG1fwO— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) August 3, 2017
We’re neither outraged nor surprised that Chelsea Clinton would retweet the editor of ThinkProgress; we just thought it was a particularly stupid take on top of another particularly stupid take. But if retweeting an account implies agreement with every previous tweet from that account, Twitter rule No. 1 should be, never retweet ThinkProgress.
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Related:
Is Think Progress correct in claiming convicted felon Alton Sterling was carrying a gun legally? https://t.co/Eg2U96DySC
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) July 8, 2016
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