The Trump White House Has Sure Shared a Lot of Fictional, Racist Fantasies Today

Stassa Edwards

PublishedAugust 17, 2017

Comments (246)

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

Friends, I’d just like to share this Florida story with you.

Shortly after the Barcelona attack that has left at least 13 dead and multiple people injured, Donald Trump responded by reanimating a racist and fictional anecdote that he used on the campaign trail. After encouraging the people of Barcelona to stay “tough and strong,” Trump tweeted: “Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!” While on the campaign trail, Trump told the story of General John Pershing, best known as the commander of the American troops in France during World War I, taking “50 terrorists and he took 50 men and dipped 50 bullets in pig’s blood” in the Phillipines. According to Trump, Pershing lined the men up at shot and killed 49 of them, “and for 25 years there wasn’t a problem” with terrorism. The story has been universally debunked but on Twitter today, Trump implied that his racist fantasies of extra-judicial murder were both real (note that now it’s 35 years rather than 25 years) and an appropriate response to Barcelona. [The Guardian]
If you’d like to experience Twitter from Donald Trump’s point of view, the Washington Post has created an account that checks accounts that “Trump follows every five minutes and then retweets any new tweets from them over that period.” It’s insightful and bleak. [Washington Post]
Meanwhile, Trump is increasingly isolated from members of his own party as well as other world leaders. [Washington Post]
It probably doesn’t help that Trump continues to pick public fights with fellow Republicans. This week’s targets include Senators Lindsey Graham and Jeff Flake. [The Hill]
Steve Bannon called a reporter to freely share his thoughts on a wide range of subjects, from North Korea to “economic nationalism” to his coworkers’ incontinence and ethno-nationalist “losers.” [The American Prospect]
Defense Secretary James Mattis responded to Bannon’s remarks. [Politico]
Nancy Pelosi has called on Paul Ryan to “join Democrats to remove the Confederate statues from the Capitol immediately.” [New York Times]
Corey Booker said that he would introduce a bill to remove Confederate statues from Capitol Hill. [CNN]
It seems highly unlikely that Trump would sign that bill even if, by some miracle, it passed Congress. The president, a self-proclaimed statue enthusiast, said today that he’s “sad” about the calls to remove “our beautiful statues and monuments.” [New York Times]
In the words of Kate Dries, “read a book!” Just one single American history book would do before forwarding racist fictions. [New York Times]
The Cleveland Clinic announced that it will not hold its annual fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago. [Cleveland Plain Dealer]
Nevada Senator Dean Heller falsely claimed that Planned Parenthood uses Medicaid reimbursements to “run ads against people that are conservative.” [Rewire]
Paul LePage has once again said something incredibly dumb. [Talking Points Memo]