Similar to Alice In Wonderland, Donald Trump can “believe at least six impossible things before breakfast” and continue to tweet even more all day. Here’s one from just this morning’s assault upon common sense and truth:
In case you were wondering what lack of intellectual depth and empathy the erstwhile POTUS brought to bear upon the Barcelona tragedy, the tweet is Trump’s attempt at historical perspective and erudition (following a more conventional statement on the matter earlier.) Here’s a transcript of Fox News’ Sheppard Smith’s reaction to same:
“US General John J. Pershing did not effectively discourage US terrorism in the Philippines by killing them and burying their bodies along with those of pigs. Quoting him now, ‘They let the 50th man go and for the next 42 years there was not a single Muslim extremist attack anywhere in the world.’ Of course the problem with this is that it isn’t true. So the president has said, ‘Watch what General Pershing did to try and discourage the Muslim terrorists,’ and the premise on which he’s speaking is false, by Snopes. It’s just not what happened, but there’s the presidential input for the day.”
More from The Hill:
During the 2016 presidential race, Trump frequently told a tale of how Pershing had Muslim prisoners in the Philippines executed with bullets coated in pig’s blood to discourage rebellion against American rule.
Similar rumors have been floating around the internet for years, but the website PolitiFact gave Trump’s claim “pants on fire” — the rating it gives the “most ridiculous falsehoods.”
Corey Lewandowski, Trump's former campaign manager, said his team knew the story was a myth even when Trump told it in 2016 but decided to tell it at rallies anyway.
“It’s not about that,” he told The Washington Post in June 2016 following his ouster. “Look, it’s an analogy.”
An analogy is a “thing that is comparable to something else in significant respects.” This is not an analogy, it’s a fiction, a “ridiculous falsehood,” in fact. But, then again, at least he didn’t say that it was an “alternative fact,” so perhaps we’re making progress.
The transcript of Smith’s comments is written above, but his tone and inflection is actually worth listening to. Bear in minds, friends, that this is Fox News we’re listening to here. Shep Smith actually sounds disgusted.