After Twitter fact-checked two of President Donald Trump’s tweets for misleading readers about the voting process, a promise Twitter made in front of Congress in order to combat fake news that like released by Russia in 2016, Donald Trump went so apoplectic that he made a ceremony of signing an executive order against social media companies.
Twitter’s latest fact-check ought to go over just about as well with Trump.
The BBC reports that:
‘Twitter’s article says that the former general resigned, and his nickname preceded Trump’s presidency.
‘It follows last week’s explosive confrontation, which saw Twitter fact-check two of President Trump’s tweets and label another as glorifying violence.’
You have nothing in common with @BarackObama 1st off. 2nd General Mattis was not fired he quit. His letter of resignation was made public, so why Lie when you are so easily proven wrong? @realDonaldTrump @CNNSitRoom @msnbc @ThisWeekABC @RepAdamSchiff @ChrisCuomo @JoeNBC @maddow pic.twitter.com/42Gn2O1OSg
— Terry (@Terrolsf) June 4, 2020
The disparaging, and largely untrue, statements against Gen. James Mattis after the former secretary of defense under Trump criticized the president’s response to the growing protests after the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Mattis wrote in The Atlantic that:
‘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. This will not be easy, as the past few days have shown, but we owe it to our fellow citizens; to past generations that bled to defend our promise; and to our children.’
Small but telling: Trump didn’t give Mattis the nickname “Mad Dog.” Not even close. What a bizarre thing to lie about.
Here’s an excerpt from Bing West’s “The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq,” published in 2008. https://t.co/N13MODs5I3 pic.twitter.com/2NLyVPa0HF
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) June 4, 2020
Trump did not give James Mattis the nickname “Mad Dog.” That nickname was created by the press and has been used since at least 2004. Trump’s claim that he made up the nickname is a rather bizarre lie, especially considering that Mattis doesn’t like the name.
Twitter fact-checked that lie in their “Moment” section, where trending news is found.
‘Twitter later published what it calls a Moment, a summary of a news story that you can see when you press the platform’s search button. It has also been promoted within the What’s Happening box that appears on Twitter’s website.’
The fact-check by Twitter reminded readers that, not only did Mattis already have the nickname “Mad Dog” before meeting Trump, he also wasn’t fired. He wrote a very public resignation letter expressing his disapproval of Trump’s foreign policies involving allies and dictators, saying the U.S. should be loyal to the allies and stop Trump’s coddling and friendships with strongmen like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un.
‘The article says that “Mattis resigned from the position… after the administration decided to withdraw US troops from Syria”, and attributes the fact to a report by the Associated Press news agency.
‘It then refers to journalists at CNN, the National Review, the Washington Post and The Dispatch as having written that the nickname ‘Mad Dog’ had been used before Trump’s presidency, with published references dating back to 2004.’
President Trump has signed an executive order against social media companies after Twitter called two of his tweets "potentially misleading" https://t.co/L9UeyKQJUo pic.twitter.com/TmCMDDX1Q2
— CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) May 28, 2020
Featured image screenshot via YouTube
