November 29, 2019
Afghanistan Thanksgiving: Trump makes the press look like boobs
By Monica Showalter
For the U.S. troops abroad, President Trump made a major personal sacrifice by skipping his own Thanksgiving in order to surprise them by helping to serve them theirs. Under cover of secrecy, he flew nearly 7,000 miles, met with them, praised and cheered them, took selfies with them, served them in the chow line, and generally gave the brave fighting men and women in the world's most forlorn hellhole something to smile about. It was a lovely presidential gesture, well in keeping with past presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who also made holiday trips to cheer the troops.
But unlike them, he also had a goodie for us back home: he managed to expose the press as presumptuous boobs. Newsweek was the easiest mark:
Donald Trump Jr.
✔@DonaldJTrumpJr
Fake news gonna fake!
49.3K
5:05 PM - Nov 28, 2019
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This is the story probably from the original, which apparently got deleted. Newsweek meant to criticize Trump for golfing on Thanksgiving, which actually would have been an acceptable thing for him to do, given that it was a holiday and every chief executive needs what project managers call "maintenance time."
Newsweek wasn't the only one. CBS's media big Mark Knoller was an easy mark for Trump's trap, too:
Mark Knoller
✔@markknoller
Pres motorcade this morning pulls into Trump Intl Golf Club in West Palm Beach. By my count, his 61st visit to this course. It brings the number of days as Pres he's been to a golf club to 224.
855
9:41 AM - Nov 27, 2019
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Oh, how he researched that! Oh, how he wanted to convince us Trump was a pleasure-seeking, lazy, good-for-nothing layabout. He tried. He really tried. And all for nothing!
Soon enough, they had to change it, because what they were reporting was mere speculation, premised on someone seeing a black car go into a golf course, which might have been a diversionary tactic from Trump, knowing that these people don't bother to actually verify facts before reporting. Newsweek got snared easily on that one, which tells us a lot about its other reporting.
Here's how Newsweek had to modify it:
Donald Trump Jr.
✔@DonaldJTrumpJr
· 17h
Fake news gonna fake!
Dennis Tyler@dennistyler
762
5:26 PM - Nov 28, 2019
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199 people are talking about this
The twitterati had a ball with that one. Here's my favorite:
Donald Trump Jr.
✔@DonaldJTrumpJr
· 17h
Fake news gonna fake!
https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1200265410253213697
And Trump got the last word. According to The Hill:
"I thought Newsweek was out of business?" Trump said with a retweet of his son Donald Trump Jr.'s tweet that placed a screenshot of Newsweek's story next to photos of the president in Afghanistan where he made a surprise visit U.S. troops on the holiday.
Except for the press, a good time was had by all. Trump got out the laser pointer again, and Newsweek's cats went running.
Afghanistan Thanksgiving: Trump makes the press look like boobs
By Monica Showalter
For the U.S. troops abroad, President Trump made a major personal sacrifice by skipping his own Thanksgiving in order to surprise them by helping to serve them theirs. Under cover of secrecy, he flew nearly 7,000 miles, met with them, praised and cheered them, took selfies with them, served them in the chow line, and generally gave the brave fighting men and women in the world's most forlorn hellhole something to smile about. It was a lovely presidential gesture, well in keeping with past presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama, who also made holiday trips to cheer the troops.
But unlike them, he also had a goodie for us back home: he managed to expose the press as presumptuous boobs. Newsweek was the easiest mark:
Donald Trump Jr.
✔@DonaldJTrumpJr
Fake news gonna fake!
49.3K
5:05 PM - Nov 28, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
18.5K people are talking about this
This is the story probably from the original, which apparently got deleted. Newsweek meant to criticize Trump for golfing on Thanksgiving, which actually would have been an acceptable thing for him to do, given that it was a holiday and every chief executive needs what project managers call "maintenance time."
Newsweek wasn't the only one. CBS's media big Mark Knoller was an easy mark for Trump's trap, too:
Mark Knoller
✔@markknoller
Pres motorcade this morning pulls into Trump Intl Golf Club in West Palm Beach. By my count, his 61st visit to this course. It brings the number of days as Pres he's been to a golf club to 224.
855
9:41 AM - Nov 27, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
13.1K people are talking about this
Oh, how he researched that! Oh, how he wanted to convince us Trump was a pleasure-seeking, lazy, good-for-nothing layabout. He tried. He really tried. And all for nothing!
Soon enough, they had to change it, because what they were reporting was mere speculation, premised on someone seeing a black car go into a golf course, which might have been a diversionary tactic from Trump, knowing that these people don't bother to actually verify facts before reporting. Newsweek got snared easily on that one, which tells us a lot about its other reporting.
Here's how Newsweek had to modify it:
Donald Trump Jr.
✔@DonaldJTrumpJr
· 17h
Fake news gonna fake!
Dennis Tyler@dennistyler
762
5:26 PM - Nov 28, 2019
Twitter Ads info and privacy
199 people are talking about this
The twitterati had a ball with that one. Here's my favorite:
Donald Trump Jr.
✔@DonaldJTrumpJr
· 17h
Fake news gonna fake!
https://twitter.com/intent/like?tweet_id=1200265410253213697
And Trump got the last word. According to The Hill:
"I thought Newsweek was out of business?" Trump said with a retweet of his son Donald Trump Jr.'s tweet that placed a screenshot of Newsweek's story next to photos of the president in Afghanistan where he made a surprise visit U.S. troops on the holiday.
Except for the press, a good time was had by all. Trump got out the laser pointer again, and Newsweek's cats went running.
