Twitter Goes Off After Trump’s Gen. Pershing Tweet: He ‘Suggested We Should Study a Lie’
Twitter went off this afternoon after President Trump‘s Gen. John Pershing tweet as the news continued to come in from Barcelona after a terrorist attack:
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
On the campaign trail, Trump talked about the unverified story of Pershing dipping bullets in pig’s blood, and today he tweeted about it again to argue its effectiveness against Islamic terrorists.
A lot of people couldn’t believe Trump revisited this again today:
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
His investigators in Hawaii are finding some amazing stuff, let me tell you. https://t.co/IEnmtbZ8rv
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) August 17, 2017
Study what Daniel-san did to Cobra Kai! There were no Cobra-Kai attacks for 35 years!
— John Podhoretz (@jpodhoretz) August 17, 2017
Trump tells us he's indignant about preserving history then rolls out a fake story slandering a US general and celebrating war crimes
— Benjy Sarlin (@BenjySarlin) August 17, 2017
He waited. He gathered the facts. And then he pooped on them. https://t.co/Hh8XvGzZX2
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 17, 2017
Pretty incredible that it took only about 48 hours to test the @POTUS claim that he "waits for all the facts" before commenting.
— Ryan Nobles (@ryanobles) August 17, 2017
Remember, though: Before weighing in, Trump likes to wait and gather all the facts. https://t.co/DRtJM0otN7
— Peter Suderman (@petersuderman) August 17, 2017
This is a lie. https://t.co/F2XNdBIKFA
— Charles C. W. Cooke (@charlescwcooke) August 17, 2017
My god . . . Trump is resurrecting a fake news story from the campaign https://t.co/oNAi9H1Nlj
— Ben Jacobs (@Bencjacobs) August 17, 2017
The story Trump's promoting, which he also did during the campaign, is most likely bullshit https://t.co/pbnSt1cbJN https://t.co/Tgt1Kyd8uX
— Mark Berman (@markberman) August 17, 2017
What Pershing did is not what Trump has claimed in the past. https://t.co/VQPTfU6WhE https://t.co/5jqTBcYcwg
— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 17, 2017
Trump is once again repeating a notorious historical myth: https://t.co/2keZcBzSQx. And implicitly advocating atrocities by our troops. Sad! https://t.co/9TvxQniXtc
— Max Boot (@MaxBoot) August 17, 2017
CNN’s Jake Tapper went on a tweetstorm calling out the President for repeating this story:
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
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
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
[image via screengrab]
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