Trump exonerated over photo op

In June last year President Trump was excoriated by mainstream media outlets and Democrat politicians over apparently violently clearing out anti-racism protesters to stage a photo op, with CNBC reporting the now President Biden as saying “When peaceful protesters are dispersed by the order of the president from the doorstep of the people’s house, the White House — using tear gas and flash grenades — in order to stage a photo op at a noble church, we can be forgiven for believing that the president is more interested in power than in principle”. Source.

In June of this year, CNBC reports that “The Interior Department’s watchdog claimed in a new report Wednesday that police violently cleared protesters from a park outside the White House last June to allow a contractor to install security fencing, not to enable then-President Donald Trump to stage a widely criticized photo op while wielding a Bible.” Source. 

Okay then.

[Future Extra]: Two years later, in mid-2023, I see the false claim repeated on a popular social media website, so posted a link to this entry. People overwhelmingly refused to concede that this was fake news, carrying on believing a confirmed lie. Here we see the power of fake news. It calls to mind the old adage that a lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting its boots on. Also, one of my pet hates, being wronged publicly and later apologised to privately.