Editors at Esquire Magazine appended an editor’s note to an Aug. 2004 story about Donald Trump after the Republican nominee repeatedly cited the article as evidence that he consistently opposed the invasion of Iraq.
“During the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed to have been against the Iraq War from the beginning, and he has cited this story as proof,” said the note. “The Iraq War began in March 2003, more than a year before this story ran, thus nullifying Trump’s timeline.”
In the original article, Trump said he would not have supported the Bush administration’s decision to depose Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
“Look at the war in Iraq and the mess that we’re in. I would never have handled it that way,” Trump said in 2004. “Does anybody really believe that Iraq is going to be a wonderful democracy where people are going to run down to the voting box and gently put in their ballot and the winner is happily going to step up to lead the county? C’mon. Two minutes after we leave, there’s going to be a revolution, and the meanest, toughest, smartest, most vicious guy will take over.”
U.S. troops invaded Iraq in March 2003.
Because Donald Trump won’t stop lying, we’ve updated our 2004 story with an editor’s note: https://t.co/dhHfecJkaz pic.twitter.com/6rp7da1Sod
— John Hendrickson (@JohnGHendy) September 8, 2016
Trump’s latest citation of the Esquire story came Wednesday evening during a forum hosted by NBC.
While attacking Hillary Clinton over her 2002 vote in the Senate to approve the Iraq War, Trump argued he has always opposed the invasion.
Esquire noted in a separate article that Trump’s position before the beginning of the war was squishier.
In a January 2003 interview with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, for example, Trump suggested President George W. Bush should make a decision one way or the other on how to handle Iraq because the public was tiring of the debate over what to do. The real estate mogul indicated either option would satisfy him.
“Well, he has either got to do something or not do something, perhaps, because perhaps shouldn’t be doing it yet and perhaps we should be waiting for the United Nations, you know. He’s under a lot of pressure,” Trump told Cavuto. “He’s — I think he’s doing a very good job. But, of course, if you look at the polls, a lot of people are getting a little tired.”
During a 2002 interview with Howard Stern, Trump was asked whether he supported the invasion.
“Yeah, I guess so,” he responded.
