A New York University political science professor faced outrage from Twitter for creating a fake quote from President Donald Trump, then defending it as “plausible.”
Ian Bremmer posted the fake quote Sunday morning without context, leading many of his followers and others to believe Trump really said “Kim Jong Un is smarter and would make a better President than Sleepy Joe Biden,” when Trump did not.
After the quote was questioned by followers, he indirectly admitted the quote wasn’t real by replying “it’s plausible” to a follower who questioned the quote.
He later posted a response to his original posting along the same lines, defending the original tweet as some sort of social experiment. Bremmer then later deleted the entire thread of tweets.
Bremmer’s tweet follows a real tweet from the president where he seemingly praised Kim Jong Un for attacking Biden.
A number of verified journalists criticized Bremmer for posting the falsehood.
This quote is fabricated. As often, no idea what Bremmer is doing. https://t.co/gMQoo3c3i1
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) May 26, 2019
This is not a real Trump quote; what he and Sarah Sanders said on this is bad enough as is. If you’re basing your views of reality based on Ian Bremmer’s tweets in 2019, please reconsider. pic.twitter.com/izVoCXcsly
— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) May 26, 2019
People are retweeting his first tweet as if it’s real and meanwhile he says “it’s plausible.” pic.twitter.com/mb9xm5pmtw
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) May 26, 2019
Nothing makes me feel more pissed on Twitter than when I get taken in by a fake quote/story and then turn around and propagate it. Pissed because I was taken advantage of, and pissed because I should’ve double-checked myself. But seriously, @ianbremmer, you’re not helping.
— Esoteric Jeff (@EsotericCD) May 26, 2019
Bremmer confirmed the tweet was fake, attempted to defend it as some sort of commentary on partisanship and Twitter, and then deleted both tweets after getting ratio-ed. 🙄
— Ankit Panda (@nktpnd) May 26, 2019
It appears @ianbremmer made up a Trump quote, presented it as real, watched as it spread through Twitter, and then, when called on his fabrication, defended himself by saying the quote was ‘plausible.’ Now, he seems to be enjoying the brouhaha…
— Byron York (@ByronYork) May 26, 2019
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