President Trump’s terrible Tweet has real-world consequences
Take a careless post about MSNBC host, Joe Scarborough. Over the past few weeks, Trump has insinuated that Scarborough was responsible for the 2001 death of Lori Klausutis, who worked in his office in Florida when he was a member of the GOP congress.
Ironically, this conspiracy theory triggered a left-wing attack on Scarborough in 2001. It was denied at that time, but is now revived by right-wing attackers, because Scarborough and his show “Morning Joe” are vigorous critics of Trump. Trump claimed on Sunday that there was “a lot of interest in this story about Psycho Joe.”
This is out of bounds, and every honest broker in politics and the media knows it. As noted by Josh Feldman from Mediaite
here, Trump is “completely rubbish” because it encourages conspiracy. If you are not sure of the facts, read the old one
check the facts from AP and other news outlets.
The President promotes a disgusting conspiracy theory and ignores the true facts of the case because he wants to drag the name of Scarborough through the mud. His father also hurt the Klausutis family. Family members declined my interview request in the past few days … and
this story in The Washington Post articulating the reason why: “Nobody in the Klausutis family will talk about Trump’s tweet for this article, fearing retaliation by online trolls of the type who followed the parents of the Sandy Hook massacre victims … ‘There is much we want to say “But we can’t,” said Colin Kelly, who is Klausutis’s sister-in-law. “
Three tweets from the right
– Fox, Brit Hume, reacted to one of Trump’s embarrassing posts: “30K retweeted for this discredited story, based on a three-year post from several wing-ding websites. This is why his critics wanted DJT to play a lot of golf, because when he do it, he’s not tweeting shit like this. “
– Jay Nordlinger of NRO: “What Trump is doing here hurts out of belief. All good wills – and even some with bad intentions – must take this into account.”
– David Frum: “Yesterday, the president accused a prominent citizen of murder. Surely the attorney general wanted to correct this important news? US lawyer? The crack investigation crew at Fox News? Judge Jeanine? Or did they all quietly agree: The words said Trump is just empty madness? “
“Trying to intimidate …”
This is what the MSNBC spokesperson said at the beginning of the month when Trump started this crazy crusade: “Efforts to intimidate and bully the free press, including through the exploration of strange peripheral conspiracy theories, will not prevent Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski or one of MSNBC. analysts from holding power into account. We will continue to report accurately and thoroughly about the White House’s handling of the Coronavirus pandemic. “
To you, Twitter …
Donie O’Sullivan writes: Last summer Twitter launched a new rule for world leaders who tweeted on its platform – chief among them, of course, Trump. Twitter says that users will be able to tweet things that violate Twitter’s normal rules but Twitter will label the tweet – explaining that, even if they break the rules, they will be left on the platform because they are newsworthy. and must be used to hold the leaders accountable. That’s not a bad idea at all. But a month after Twitter made the announcement, Trump sent racist tweets about “The Squad.” Based on the site’s own rules, the tweet should be labeled as a violation of its policies. But apparently not, as we reported at the time.
In fact, Twitter hasn’t labeled anything from Trump’s tweets. Then come this weekend … And all the lies about Joe Scarborough. Why is Twitter probably slow to act and enforce its own rules? Well, all you need to do is read
WSJ’s story from the weekend.
I asked about the alleged tweet, and Twitter declined to comment: “We don’t have anything to share at this time,” a spokesman said …
Donie took it
Donie O’Sullivan added: Last year Senator Kamala Harris asked Twitter to close Trump’s account, raise Q, do we really want to live in a world where a private company can only start the head of state as he wishes? (Trump will find a new platform.)
In that case, I don’t think the people who joined the choir calling for social media companies to suppress Trump really had thought about what they were suggesting and the precedents they suggested to set. BUT … Twitter has clearly established the rules here – it does an overall public relations push on how it will label tweets from world leaders who break the rules. In that case, it is very necessary to be held accountable …
>>
This is Q who deserves an answer, posted by Gabriel Sherman: “Isn’t it baseless accusing someone of committing murder violating Twitter’s terms of service?”
Imagine if …
Oliver Darcy writes: As Trump continues his efforts to smear Scarborough with this conspiracy theory, it is worth experimenting with this thought: Imagine how the President’s allies would behave if tables were turned and Scarborough used his powerful platform to suggest Trump commit murder. They will (should) be angry and ask for his dismissal. So why are they silent now? Why are the standards higher for cable anchors than for the President of the United States?
