Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., speaks to reporters at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. President Donald Trump’s legal team prepared to wrap up arguments in his impeachment trial Tuesday as Senate Republicans wrestled with whether to allow witnesses, including John Bolton who appeared ready to contradict a key Trump claim. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
Parody writer Dan Lyons (aka Fake Steve, inventor of fake news) wrote a clearly fake tweet last week which apparently many liberals fell for. The tweet, which has since been deleted, read:
CAPITOL HILL: @LindseyGrahamSC said @realDonaldTrump “probably knows more about medicine and specifically viruses than any of the so-called scientists at the NIH and CDC. If anyone is going to eradicate this plague it’ll be the president.”
Believing it was true because it portrayed President Trump, Sen. Lindsey Graham and the Trump Administration’s response to the coronavirus crisis in an embarrassing light, many liberals in the twittersphere took the opportunity to heap scorn on the aforementioned as well as on Trump supporters.
One of the replies came from serial liar and former National Security Advisor Susan Rice who wrote: “Classic.”
The Federalist’s Mollie Hemingway compiled a list of anti-Trumpers, all of whom are “blue checks,” who were fooled by it, along with their tweets.
(In addition to the original tweet, all responses have been deleted.)
Carol Ray Hartsell (Full Frontal): “If you imagine him yelling this while handcuffed inside a paddy wagon as the door is closing, it makes more sense.”
Anita Creamer (former writer, Sacramento Bee): “It’s only a matter of time before Trump claims to have personally found the cure.”
Alex Bledsoe (Novel writer): “Dear Lord, what does Trump HAVE on him? It must be catastrophic, because there’s no other reason he’d say such an asinine thing.”
Norm Eisen (Brookings Institution): “This is starting to reach North Korean level leader worship.”
(Note: Eisen had the grace to tell his followers that he had deleted the tweet. “I guess I left my sense of humor behind when I switched offices.”)
Mike Avila (TV producer): “There’s sycophancy & then there is whatever insanity Lindsey Graham is currently practicing. This statement should be grounds for an immediate psychiatric evaluation.”
Lea Black (Television personality): “These people are crazy and dangerous.”
Marie Myung-OK Lee (The Atlantic): “I kind of feel sorry to see #LindseyGraham lose his last scrap of self respect on live TV…”
Ed Owen (British politician): “”so-called scientists” ffs”
Ryan Gorman (Ex journo): “I’m old enough to remember when @LindseyGrahamSC wasn’t a ridiculous clown person.”
Scott Stenholm (Real Time with Bill Maher): “Okay, yeah, maybe Trump does have something on him.”
David Corn (Mother Jones): “Remember this absolutely crazy remark?”
Philip Coggan (Economist): “Some day we are going to find that “Lindsey Graham” is a fake persona created by a comedian who wanted to see just how far a politician could go in self-abasement without being identified.”
Joe Madison (SiriusXM): “Lindsey Graham is full of a long row of emojis”
Dan Janison (Newsday): “What’s really gone viral is the shameless babble.”
Actor Don Cheadle, former Obama official and media head Alyssa Mastromonaco, former Bloomberg reporter Ryan Flinn, Philly Weekly writer Dr. Timaree, and Canadian journalist Frédéric Arnould all fell for it. NJTV correspondent Brenda Flanagan took it so seriously that she wrote, “‘When you mix politics and science, you get politics.’ — Author John Barry, The Great Influenza.”
Just a little something while we await the Super Tuesday results.
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