As we told you earlier, two oil tankers were reportedly attacked in the Gulf of Oman near Iran. The Washington Post’s Beirut bureau chief put it this way:
Big escalation in the Persian Gulf. Two oil tankers struck and on fire in the Strait of Hormuz, focus of US-Iran tensions. Comes after Trump failed to heed the last tanker warning & imposed more sanctions https://t.co/zrEiVf5eIK
— Liz Sly (@LizSly) June 13, 2019
That tweet sparked more than a few huge eye rolls:
Wait…. you’re blaming Trump for Iran blowing up tankers??
— EducatëdHillbilly™ (@RobProvince) June 13, 2019
Failed to heed warnings? He did heed warnings and imposed more sanctions. Now he has to do more as the Iranians failed to heed warnings.
— Julia (@TurtledoveJB) June 13, 2019
How much did the Iranian government pay you for this tweet?
Holy crap you couldn't be more of a shill for Iran if you tried. https://t.co/LN1F9PRM35
— Fusilli Spock (@awstar11) June 13, 2019
Honestly if we sent more pallets of cash things would be fine. Ransom is actually good.
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) June 13, 2019
I'm just here for the ratio for this dumpster fire of a take. pic.twitter.com/phls2AXCoo
— Dan Goldwasser (@dgoldwas) June 13, 2019
After a few hours, the WaPo correspondent obviously felt a “clarification” was in order. Here it is:
I posted a clarification to this but it seems people didn't see it. I meant failed to only in the sense of "didn't." Or simply “It comes after the last warning was followed by new sanctions”. No intent to blame anyone, just describing a sequence.
— Liz Sly (@LizSly) June 13, 2019
Does that make everything better? Not everybody thought so:
This #CYA attempt is a miss.
— SmirKing Revenge (@InvisibleHand78) June 13, 2019
I don't think this is going to help. https://t.co/ibfKaY65j1
— ❌NotASpookyFeminist (@No3rdWaveFem) June 13, 2019
What a farcical response.
I read "failed" as "didn't" in your original tweet – your clarification changes nothing.
You are advocating appeasing our enemies and blaming Trump for the actions of Iran. For that, you are being rightfully criticized. Take your medicine. https://t.co/zDWJ387ILF
— Girl_Grimly (@ed_grimly) June 13, 2019
Ah, “journalism” in the Trump era.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member