As Twitchy reported earlier, CNN’s Brian Stelter appeared to go full Melania-truther with his graphic showing just how long it had been since the first lady had made a public appearance:
If any First Lady "disappeared," you'd "want to know where she is." Here's our @CNN discussion: https://t.co/qCLndJKRMp pic.twitter.com/eJ5KY0xTzu
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) June 3, 2018
CNN wasn’t the only outlet to dip its toe into conspiracy theory waters, though. Check out the quotations Agence France-Presse used in its tweet about Melania Trump’s “vanishing act.”
Melania Trump's unusual 25-day absence from public view following surgery for a "benign" kidney condition is raising questions https://t.co/E4WLk3gdrZ
— AFP news agency (@AFP) June 4, 2018
“She is known for her privacy and White House independence, often breaking with her husband’s schedule,” reports AFP. “But Melania Trump’s unusual 25-day absence from public view following surgery for a ‘benign’ kidney condition has raised questions.” Yes, they put benign in quotation marks in the story as well.
If it was a benign condition, surely she should be back to her usual routine by now, right? One thing’s for sure — it’s raising a lot of questions.
Only from insane people. https://t.co/RuZ2WKHTSO
— Mark Noonan (@Mark_E_Noonan) June 4, 2018
Literally the only people that care about these “questions” are the ones that want to turn this into a controversy. https://t.co/NJrnGO1Fdk
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) June 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/michi83/status/1003749613868847105
We are in the "kidney surgery is nbd" phase of conspiracy theorizing. https://t.co/4DFvRQEDgH
— Dan ?? (@danieltobin) June 4, 2018
Suddenly every journalist in America is an expert at how long it normally takes to recover from kidney surgery. Imagine that https://t.co/q7RiR6xkOZ
— Ken Webster Jr (@KenWebsterJrSho) June 4, 2018
Have kidney surgery of any kind and see how long it takes you to get back to 100%, assholes. https://t.co/LbVFyvyHCW
— Derek Hunter (@derekahunter) June 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/Source_Persil/status/1003768859210289152
Now they're even stepping on imaginary rakes. https://t.co/9rtU8kYUBx
— David Steinberg ?? (@DavidSPJM) June 4, 2018
Journalistic standards have slipped so far that now even AFP are deploying clickbait. https://t.co/xvzPfsJvfB
— Me (@DTKenneally) June 4, 2018
Journalism is absolutely riveted over the absence of a recovering surgery patient from the limelight. https://t.co/yWOaLMckFa
— Aldous Huxley's Ghost™ (@AF632) June 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/catinlg/status/1003748790602424321
Melania recovers from a scheduled surgery: conspiracy
Hillary collapses in public and then lies about it: [crickets] https://t.co/khwLCynXAM— Angela Morabito (@AngelaLMorabito) June 4, 2018
So it's okay to question Melania's health, but not Hillary's? Again, I'm just trying to keep up with the rules. https://t.co/s2H9PJSvQO
— Mary #FlyTheW (@mchastain81) June 4, 2018
Related:
And we're DEAD! Brian Stelter gets called out in a SPECTACULAR way for going FULL Melania-Truther https://t.co/6yTj8MoY8y
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) June 4, 2018
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