Remember when Trump…

tweeted fake news while warning about fake news?

Trump tweeted a clip of a black toddler and white toddler running together to embrace. It was edited to include a fake CNN chyron reading “terrified todler[sic] runs from racist baby” before cutting to a title reading “America is not the problem. Fake news is.”

Twitter labelled it as “manipulated media” before ultimately removing the video when a copyright notice was issued from the rights holder.

Other tweets of Trump have been flagged by Twitter, such as a manipulated video of Joe Biden, false information about mail-in voting, and a tweet about protests that was flagged for glorying violence.

The Hill – Twitter flags Trump tweet featuring fake CNN chyron as ‘manipulated media’
The Hill – Twitter disables video in Trump tweet featuring fake CNN chyron
Variety – Trump’s Tweet With Fake ‘Racist Baby’ CNN Clip Flagged by Twitter as Manipulated Media

threatened protesters with “vicious dogs” and “ominous weapons”?

In a string of tweets amid protests at the White House against George Floyd’s death at the hands of police, Trump threatened the use of “the most vicious dogs, and most ominous weapons.”

Two days prior, Trump also said of protests that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts.” His handling of protests were denounced by former Secretary of Defense James Mattis.

The New York Times – Trump Threatens White House Protesters With ‘Vicious Dogs’ and ‘Ominous Weapons’

hired a press secretary who never gave a press conference during her 9 month tenure?

In July 2019, Stephanie Grisham was selected to replace Sarah Sanders as White House press secretary and communications director. She held the position for 9 months until April 2020, and was the first to hold the position without ever holding a press conference.

Stephanie Grisham.jpg
Stephanie Grisham. Wikipedia

Grisham has been fired from previous jobs for faking expense reports and plagiarism. She also has had two DUIs, the more recent one occurring in 2016, for which she failed to appear in court before ultimately pleading guilty.

Grisham was replaced by Kayleigh McEnany, who was a vocal proponent of the Obama birther conspiracy.

Fox News – First lady spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham named new White House press secretary
CNN – Grisham out as West Wing press secretary without having held a briefing
Wikipedia – Stephanie Grisham

said of Abraham Lincoln “he did good, although it’s always questionable, you know, the end result”?

In a Fox News interview with Harris Faulkner, Trump repeated past claims that he had done more for the black community than any other President. In doing so, he made a comment about “the end result.”

TRUMP: I think I’ve done more for the black community than any other President. And let’s take a pass on Abraham Lincoln because he did good, although it’s always questionable, you know, the end result-

FAULKNER: Well we are free, Mr. President so I think he did pretty well. [laughter]

TRUMP: But we are free. You understand what I mean.

It was unclear what Trump was referring to.

Trump previously claimed that he could be more Presidential than Lincoln “with the big hat,” who he described as someone who “did the thing.”

Business Insider – Trump says Abraham Lincoln ‘did good’ for the Black community but that ‘the end result’ is ‘questionable’
CNBC – Trump suggests Lincoln’s legacy is ‘questionable,’ brags about his own work for Black Americans
Forbes – Trump Claims He’s Done More For Blacks Than Any President Besides Lincoln

wanted to prevent a cruise ship with COVID-19 from docking so the US’ confirmed case number wouldn’t increase?

During a tour of the Center for Disease Control on March 6, 2020, Trump said he preferred to prevent a cruise ship with confirmed COVID-19 cases from docking for fear that the official number of US cases would increase.

They would like to have the people come off. I’d rather have the people stay [on the ship]. But I’d go with them. I told them to make the final decision. I would rather – because I like the numbers being where they are. I don’t need to have the numbers double because of one ship that wasn’t our fault.

The US had 319 confirmed cases and 15 deaths.

Trump later called coronavirus testing “overrated,” and said that halting testing would mean that there would be no more cases. Trump spent the early months of the coronavirus pandemic dismissing concerns about the growing crisis.

Business Insider – Trump said he wants to keep Grand Princess cruise passengers on the ship so that US coronavirus numbers don’t ‘double.’ That strategy failed in Japan.
Fox News – Trump wants cruise ship passengers to stay at sea, but leaves decision up to Pence
Market Watch – Trump on allowing Grand Princess cruise passengers to disembark: ‘I’d rather have them stay on, personally’
Worldometer – Coronavirus, United States

called coronavirus testing “overrated”?

In a speech made on May 14, 2020, Trump referred to testing for coronavirus as “overrated.”

So we have the best testing in the world. It could be the testing’s, frankly, overrated? Maybe it is overrated. But whatever they start yelling, we want more, we want more. You know, they always say we want more, we want more because they don’t want to give you credit.

On that day, the US had suffered a total of 87,500 deaths from COVID-19, more than all American deaths in wars from Vietnam to the modern day combined.

Trump later also said that if testing were halted, “we’d have very few cases, if any.” Trump spent the early months of the coronavirus pandemic dismissing concerns about the growing crisis.

Politico – Trump: Coronavirus testing may be ‘overrated’ and reason for high U.S. case count
Worldometer – Coronavirus, United States
Wikipedia – United States military casualties of war

said if COVID-19 testing were halted, “we’d have very few cases, if any”?

On June 15, 2020, Trump explained,

Our testing is so far advanced, it’s so much bigger and better than any other country that we’re going to have more cases, we’re always going to have more cases. And as I said this morning that’s probably the downside of having good testing, is you find a lot of cases that other countries who don’t even test, don’t have. If you don’t test, you don’t have any cases. If we stop testing right now we would have very few cases if any.

On the day of his comments, the United States had suffered 120,942 deaths from COVID-19, more than all American deaths during the First World War.

Trump also previously called testing “overrated” and spent the early months of the pandemic dismissing concerns about the growing crisis.

The Hill – Trump on coronavirus: ‘If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any’
Business Insider – Trump says that ‘if we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases’ of the coronavirus
Worldometer – Coronavirus, United States
1914-1918-Online – War Losses (USA)

invoked George Floyd’s name over jobs numbers?

In a June 2020 press conference, Trump boasted about better than expected job figures amid the COVID-19 pandemic. During the speech, he invoked George Floyd, who was killed at the hands of police.

We all saw what happened last week. We can’t let that happen. Hopefully George is looking down right now and saying, “This is a great thing that’s happening for our country.” This is a great day for him. It’s a great day for everybody. This is a great day for everybody. This is a great, great day in terms of equality. It’s really what our Constitution requires and it’s what our country is all about.

PBS White House Correspondent Yamiche Alcindor inquired about the jobs numbers, noting that minority unemployment rates had still increased, to which Trump replied, “you’re really something.”

CNBC – Trump caps chaotic week with a victory lap over better-than-expected jobs report
Business Insider – Trump suggests George Floyd is ‘looking down’ from heaven and appreciating the ‘great day in terms of equality’ after an unexpectedly strong jobs report was announced

was denounced by his former Secretary of Defense for making “a mockery of our Constitution”?

In June 2020, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis wrote an op-ed titled “In Union there is Strength” in which he attacked Trump’s handling of ongoing protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police.

Mattis specifically referenced Trump and what he considered to be a failure of leadership:

Don­ald Trump is the first pres­i­dent in my life­time who does not try to unite the Amer­i­can peo­ple — does not even pre­tend to try. In­stead, he tries to di­vide us. We are wit­ness­ing the con­se­quences of three years of this de­lib­er­ate ef­fort. We are wit­ness­ing the con­se­quences of three years with­out ma­ture lead­er­ship. We can unite with­out him, draw­ing on the strengths in­her­ent in our civil so­ci­ety. …We must re­ject and hold ac­count­able those in of­fice who would make a mock­ery of our Con­sti­tu­tion. At the same time, we must re­mem­ber Lin­coln’s “bet­ter an­gels,” and lis­ten to them, as we work to unite.

Mattis also commented on Trump’s handling of ongoing protests in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of police:

At home, we should use our military only when requested to do so, on very rare occasions, by state governors. Militarizing our response, as we witnessed in Washington, D.C., sets up a conflict—a false conflict—between the military and civilian society.

Trump responded via tweet, calling Mattis “the world’s most overrated general.”

Mattis, a retired four-star Marine Corps general, resigned as SecDef in 2018 in protest to Trump’s Syrian policy and withdrawal of US troops from the area.

The Atlantic – James Mattis Denounces President Trump, Describes Him as a Threat to the Constitution
The New York Times – Mattis Accuses Trump of Dividing the Nation in a Time of Crisis

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