As satisfying as it can be to see a Republican president call out the mainstream media for trafficking in fake news, Donald Trump really isn’t helping his case with tweets like his apparent response to a suspected terror attack in Barcelona, Spain, Thursday.
Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 17, 2017
Trump referring to uncorroborated story he told during campaign hat Pershing had Muslim terrorists shot with bullets covered in pig's blood. https://t.co/nduYPTQd6k
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) August 17, 2017
Because it’s a tale that Trump told on the campaign trail, fact-checkers had already debunked the story of Gen. John Pershing ordering 50 Muslim prisoners shot with bullets dipped in pigs’ blood. And when everyone in the “fake news” business is aware that the myth has been debunked, well, it looks something like this.
1/ POTUS again shares false story about GEN Pershing https://t.co/Q0WCVUg3bI https://t.co/yczw0BQxIn
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
2/ 1st what ever happened to POTUS waiting for facts before speaking about terror attacks? (I know: it's not true) https://t.co/2auzsW6skf
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
3) Spanish police have said they *suspect* Barcelona is a terror attack, and we all may have our theories, but facts still coming in.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
Recommended
4) 2nd, theres no evidence for the story about GEN Pershing dipping 50 bullets in pig's blood to stop a Muslim uprising in the Philippines
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
5/ In Pershing's "My Life Before the World War, 1860-1917" he writes of COL Frank West burying Muslim insurgents with a dead pig.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
6/ GEN J. Franklin Bell wrote to Pershing that he could rely on him to continue what West did.
But no evidence Pershing wanted to do so.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
7/ And most importantly — no evidence such an action — stopped any violence. None.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
8/ Politifact spoke with a number of Pershing scholars to find out more about this claim. https://t.co/bkur8vXGix
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
And Tapper rips off the Band-Aid:
9/ The President of the United States just suggested we should study a lie about dipping bullets in pig's blood to kill Islamic insurgents
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
10/ Lastly, look at the difference in POTUS reactions to today's terrorism and last Saturday's, which he has yet to identify as such.
-fin-— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) August 17, 2017
Well … at least Trump’s tweet briefly distracted the press from his statement on Charlottesville Tuesday? We’ve got nothin’.
Again with the bullets dipped in pigs' blood??? https://t.co/i4AR33mxU2
— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) August 17, 2017
The president of the United States suggests basing national security policy on an urban myth https://t.co/AgyNpQ993z
— Trip Gabriel (@tripgabriel) August 17, 2017
The commander in chief is telling people to study a military incident that historians have called a myth https://t.co/x18zfZE4r7
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) August 17, 2017
This is not okay. https://t.co/yD01lDTJO1
— Billy Hallowell (@BillyHallowell) August 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/NoahCRothman/status/898256268376375296
New #Trump tweet references Pershing's bullets dipped in pigs blood as the way to deal with Jihadi terrorists. More rage/blood for the base.
— Howard Fineman (@howardfineman) August 17, 2017
Trump, on Tuesday: "I want the facts…I need the facts…I like to know the facts."
Trump today: https://t.co/gNKPR6cDzx
— Stephen Hayes (@stephenfhayes) August 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/EggerTWS/status/898256913426661376
This tale that Trump also told during the campaign is a made-up story https://t.co/pCnVLMukI7 https://t.co/LwDBcVQuob
— Dan Eggen (@DanEggenWPost) August 17, 2017
bad info getting to trump. kelly was going to try to fix that. https://t.co/cd0nRUVpbh
— Laura Rozen (@lrozen) August 17, 2017
Could he try harder? He has a point about fake news, but undercutting his own credibility like this will make sure the media never acknowledges it.
https://twitter.com/BradThor/status/898265647670599684
After that Pershing thing I'm ready to rethink my opposition to invoking 25th A.
— Jennifer Rubin (@JRubinBlogger) August 17, 2017
Defiling Muslim bodies will stop ISIS? Think this through.
— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 17, 2017
https://twitter.com/SonnyBunch/status/898254952924971008
* * *