Tuesday, October 01, 2024

24 Hours of MAGA Misinformation

Donald Trump, the president who set new benchmarks for false and misleading claims - more than 30,000 of them during his term, in fact - leads a MAGA movement that increasingly shamelessly treats misinformation as a political strategy. Well, we'll walk through a 24-hour period of MAGA misinformation on Monday.

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The barrage is so constant that it often leaves journalists with a dilemma. How do you tell the story when Trump says for the umpteenth time that he was Michigan's Man of the Year (an honor the state doesn't actually award)? Is it a headline every time Trump repeats this fantasy, or do you note the many previous fact checks? Does debunking it just promote it? Trump will often make dozens of false, misleading or baseless claims at a single rally alone, creating a problem of sheer volume as well.

1:18 a.m.: Elon Musk promotes a headline claiming former secretary of state John F. Kerry wants to "change" the First Amendment. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) later promote Musk's tweet, with Lee adding that Democrats "want to end free speech as we know it." (Kerry did not say he wants to amend the First Amendment. He correctly noted that the First Amendment was a major impediment to cracking down on misinformation and more broadly referenced winning elections to "implement change."

1:21 a.m.: Musk promotes a post alleging Democrats are flying undocumented immigrants into swing states to win elections. (There is no evidence of this, and it doesn't make sense for a host of reasons.)

7:16 a.m.: Trump ally Dinesh D'Souza claims a new ad for Vice President Kamala Harris's campaign features "paid actors pretending to be former Trump supporters." (The couple in the ad have been repeatedly profiled as former Trump voters, and the man is a longtime Republican township supervisor. The report D'Souza cited from Sky News Australia relied on a random X user whose claim had already been debunked.)

11:02 a.m.: Trump claims on Truth Social that he was forced to use a 750-seat theater for a Wisconsin rally because the Biden administration wouldn't provide him more Secret Service protection while it was also protecting the president of Iran at the U.N. General Assembly. Trump claims "50,000 people" were turned away. (The Secret Service was charged with protecting more than just the Iranian president at the large U.N. event in New York. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports the capacity at the theater Trump spoke in was actually around 300, and that just a "few hundred more people" were unable to get in.)

11:42 a.m.: Trump claims the federal government and North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper (D) are "going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas" affected by Hurricane Helene. (When pressed for evidence of this, Trump offered none and merely said, "Take a look.")

12:41 p.m.: Trump claims a photo of Harris being briefed on Helene is "FAKE and STAGED" because her earphones are not plugged into her phone. Many allies repeat the claim. (You can't see the port of the phone where earphones would be plugged in.)

1:04 p.m.: Cruz claims on X that "425,431 criminal illegal aliens are roaming the streets because Kamala Harris has utterly failed at her job." (This is false. It refers to recent data from the Department of Homeland Security. The data include those who are in prison, but they are listed as not being detained by immigration officials because they are not specifically in those officials' custody. Many who complete their sentences cannot be deported for diplomatic reasons. Republicans have also exaggerated Harris's actual purview in managing immigration, which was focused on the root causes of illegal immigration rather than securing the border itself.)

And that's only 12 hours....

#1 | Posted by tonyroma at 2024-10-01 06:10 PM

I know an Evangelical Christian who told mr lying is ok if you are doing it for Christ! I think MAGAlunatics think lying is ok if you do it for Trump. It's ok thry are losing the electio and soon Trump and the MAGAterrorists will be a speedbump in history. Much like the Confederacy.

#2 | Posted by danni at 2024-10-02 08:55 AM

IMHO if someones physical wellbeing is at risk it's understandable why a Christian might lie.

It is also understandable during just warfare.

Aside from those two situations malicious lying is unChristian.

#3 | Posted by Tor at 2024-10-02 02:31 PM

Exodus 20:16
You shall not testify falsely [that is, lie, withhold, or manipulate the truth] against your neighbor (any person).

I think that covers that. Except MAGA world is crazy.

#4 | Posted by GalaxiePete at 2024-10-02 03:42 PM

24 Hours?

Try 9 years.

9 solid --- years of absolute -------- gaslighting and outright lies.

Imagine being big mad because you're not allowed to lie with impunity.

Really says a lot about their message.

donOLD chickened out of the 60 minutes interview because they were going to fact check him live.

Now imagine just how vapid you are throwing your support behind a person that refuses to be held accountable to the truth.

#5 | Posted by Nixon at 2024-10-03 07:08 AM

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