One of the weirdest trends in the era of President Trump is that his fiercest critics feel the need to lie, even when there are plenty of true things to criticize.
The Trump White House is already a target rich environment. It is absurd that some people feel the need to make up unflattering stories about the president and his Cabinet.
Take MSNBC host Joe Scarborough, for example. The bitter former Trump enthusiast is now a very concerned and active member of the “resistance,” which means he’s in the game of spreading anti-White House disinformation.
On Monday, Scarborough not only resurrected an old lie about Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, but the cable news host did so via an astonishingly dishonest video edit.
“You might remember her position on guns and schools from her confirmation hearing,” he said as he introduced the clip. “Morning Joe” then showed a very brief video of when DeVos said in January 2017, “I would imagine that there’s probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies.”
“Yeah, our kids aren’t worrying about grizzlies in their schools. They’re worried about AR-15s,” Scarborough responded to no one in particular.
The problem with Scarborough’s self-satisfied criticism is that it hinges on a grossly dishonest representation of what DeVos said. She didn’t randomly suggest that schools prepare for random grizzly attacks. What actually happened is that she explained her belief that there should be no blanket federal policy regulating guns in schools.
In making her case, she cited as an unusual example the real-world example that had been raised earlier by Sen. Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., of a school in his home state where bear attacks are a real issue. A one-size-fits-all rule, she pointed out, wouldn’t cover a case like that one. DeVos argued that states and localities are best suited to make these judgments.
This is what DeVos said: “I think that’s best left for states and locales to decide. I would refer back to Sen. Enzi, and the school he was talking about in [Wyoming]. I would imagine there, that there’s probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies.”
Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., followed-up by asking, “If President Trump moves forward with his plan to ban gun-free school zones, will you support that proposal?” DeVos said she would support the president.
“But if the question is around gun violence and the results of that, please know that my heart bleeds and is broken for those families that have lost any individual due to gun violence,” she added, bringing an end to Murphy’s question time
For anyone who feels a need to criticize DeVos, why not instead go after her ill-prepared “60 Minutes” appearance? Why resurrect this stupid “grizzly” lie instead? Why do so many Trump critics, including his former cheerleaders, feel the need to embellish?
