Twitter Busts Jim Acosta For Selectively Editing Trump Comments on Immigration: ‘Just Plain False’

Caleb HoweMay 16th, 2019, 7:36 pm
 

White House reporter (by way of lawsuit) Jim Acosta faces a lot of criticism for the role he plays in the press corps, and has been locking horns with the administration since about Day 1.

Not all the criticism of Acosta has come exclusively from Trump or his followers, but almost all of it comes from the right.

On Thursday, he tweeted something outright false about the President’s remarks on immigration, and on Twitter, almost exclusively from those on the right, he was shredded for it.

What he said in that tweet is false. More on that below the tweets, but first, here are some notable, and occasionally humorous, reactions.

The failure of those on the left or in the media to pile on is itself a commentary, but for those who think it’s fine to say he lacked context, but incorrect to say that he said is false, you need to read again what he actually wrote on Twitter.

Acosta said Trump “paints asylum seekers with broad brush accusing them of misleading immigration authorities.” That’s not misleading or lacking context, it’s false. I know, I was live-tweeting.

“Unfortunately legitimate asylum-seekers are being displaced by those lodging frivolous claims,” said Trump.

Whether Jim Acosta believes that happens at the border is irrelevant. What’s relevant is that specifying there are two types of asylum-seekers is, by definition, not painting all asylum seekers with that broad brush. He said there is this kind, and there is that kind.

That’s the opposite of “broad brush” and, what’s more, by including the quote “these are frivolous claims” as the example of that broad brush, Acosta is excluding, not leaving out, the idea that Trump said there are non-frivolous claims. Yet Trump specifically stated that there are, and even that those legitimate claims should be honored and are under threat from the frivolous claims.

This could not be a more clear cut case. It’s not a lack of context. Acosta said something false. That’s just what happened.

If you’re wondering, he has not corrected his false statement, but is instead doubling down on his Twitter account.

Because that is the activist playbook. Not usually the journalist’s playbook, but as it says in the first paragraph, he has a particular role.

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Caleb Howe - Contributing Editor

Caleb Howe is an editor and writer focusing on politics and media. Former managing editor at RedState. Published at USA Today, Blaze, National Review, Daily Wire, American Spectator, AOL News, Asylum, fortune cookies, manifestos, napkins, fridge drawings...