Day 492: Once Trump’s tweets are translated, debunking them is easy
Donald Trump went on a Twitter rampage Saturday morning. A translator is needed for many of his tweets.
Errors in the above tweet:
- It is a Donald Trump administration policy to separate families of undocumented migrants crossing the border. (Attorney General Jeff Session said of the policy: “We don’t want to separate families, but we don’t want families to come to the border illegally. This is just the way the world works.”)
- Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the presidency, yet Trump is trying to blame Democrats for a policy that can be overturned by a simple executive order via his pen.
- The wall isn’t under construction, so it’s difficult to “continue building” it.
- Their*
- Trump claims he wants to end “chain migration,” but that’s exactly how his wife’s family got citizenship.
- Democrats aren’t protecting gang members, but it’s an interesting non-sequitur.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the tweet above. Jason Seaman is a undoubtedly a hero who saved many lives and deserves endless recognition and praise. So too does James Shaw, Jr., another unarmed hero who saved many lives in a Waffle House shooting, who never got a shout-out on Twitter from Trump for some reason.
It looks like more titling at media windmills for Donald Quixote. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton have each said very different things regarding their goals and ambitions for a North Korea meeting. This caused North Korea to call out Bolton — but not Pompeo — by name.
Every administration has disagreements about foreign policy. When there is a room full of 10 people, it would be unrealistic — and a detriment — if they agreed about every facet of a policy or tactic. Trump’s denial regarding that occurrence doesn’t ring close to true. His immediate desire to lash out at news reports is harmed by his inability to come up with even the most plausible of explanations.
On top of that, Trump is accusing The New York Times of inventing a person and lying about sources. Just one problem: the Times’ report was based on a White House-sanctioned background briefing to reporters.
Trump claims that a meeting in 17 days with North Korea is plenty possible, despite a senior White House official — under the White House’s authority — claiming it wasn’t.
If there is a time crunch to squeeze in preparations for a North Korea meeting, Trump missed the memo.
492 days in, 970 to go
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