The American public is generally familiar with how certain elements of the legacy media are quick to offer a slanted or one-sided spin to current events. This goes double for stories that involve Donald Trump. But a new example, happening right now in real-time, perfectly illustrates how the now infamous hoaxes spread and become gospel for those refusing to look beyond the headlines. The latest nascent hoax: Trump wants Liz Cheney to face a firing squad.
The Spin Begins
Before presenting precisely what Donald Trump said, let’s take a look at the stream of headlines that are already insinuating themselves into the public consciousness:
“Trump suggests Liz Cheney should face firing squad for her foreign policy stance” – Reuters
“Trump Fantasizes About Putting Liz Cheney In Front of a Firing Squad” – Rolling Stone
“Trump says ‘war hawk’ Liz Cheney should be fired upon in escalation of violent rhetoric against his opponents” – CNN
Damning stuff, right? And just a few days before a presidential election! How shocking! Or, of course, it would be if it were in any way true.
As one can see from the headlines, the establishment media is suggesting that former GOP Representative Liz Cheney should face a firing squad because of what she believes politically. Not only is this an ungenerous interpretation of Trump’s words, but it also makes no sense whatsoever. Here’s what Donald Trump said during a talk with Tucker Carlson:
“She’s a radical war hawk… Let’s put her with a rifle standing there with nine-barrel shooting at her, OK. Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face. You know, they’re all war hawks when they’re sitting in Washington in a nice building saying, oh, gee, we’ll, let’s send — let’s send 10,000 troops right into the mouth of the enemy.”
Let’s deal with first things first: Has there ever in the history of the world been a firing squad where the condemned is given their own rifle? No? Then he was clearly not talking about a firing squad. Now let’s go through the misleading headlines by supposedly trustworthy news outlets. And keep one thing in mind: The majority of readers DO NOT read beyond the headline.
Reuters: “Trump suggests Liz Cheney should face firing squad for her foreign policy stance”
A shocking claim, indeed. But it turns out that even the reporters who wrote the story don’t believe it. Here’s the opening paragraph from the article:
“Former U.S. lawmaker Liz Cheney said on Friday Republican U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump's violent comment suggesting she should face a firing squad for her foreign policy stance showed he could not be entrusted with the White House and would target his enemies in office.”
So, not Donald Trump saying it then at all. No, indeed. In fact, it is Liz Cheney who says it. Not Trump. And yet, the headline has already done the damage.
Rolling Stone: “Trump Fantasizes About Putting Liz Cheney In Front of a Firing Squad”
“Donald Trump fantasized about having former Rep. Liz Cheney shot during a campaign event in Arizon,” begins the report. It then quotes Donald Trump, and several paragraphs further down notes that before this election cycle, Trump had “repeatedly asked his close advisers how they felt about bringing back firing squads as a method of execution.” How do these two things possibly connect to what the headlines says?
CNN: “Trump says ‘war hawk’ Liz Cheney should be fired upon in escalation of violent rhetoric against his opponents”
The report opens with:
Trump’s suggestion that Cheney be fired upon represents an escalation of the violent language he has used to target his political foes. And it comes days before an election in which the former president — who never accepted his 2020 loss — has already undermined public confidence. In recent weeks, he has also suggested a military crackdown on political opponents he has described as ‘the enemy within.’”
Did Trump suggest that “Cheney be fired upon”? Not based on his actual words. He pondered whether she would “Like” being fired upon. Presumably, her feelings would be negative… and, therefore, she may have a change of heart regarding her “radical war hawk” stance.
Just the First Wave of Attacks
Notably, the three headlines chosen above were the first three headlines on Google related to the story. Each one is a dramatic and purposeful twisting of reality that appears designed to denigrate the former president and one can only presume - make voters think twice before casting a ballot for the Republican candidate.
America has seen the fine people hoax, the Russian collusion hoax, and the Hunter Biden laptop cover-up diminish the standing of the nation’s media. Yet still the Fourth Estate persists in pushing for short-term gain that which does lasting damage. And this time, we are seeing it happen in real-time.
