The Atlantic published a story Thursday evening that claimed President Donald Trump called the fallen American soldiers in a World War I cemetery “suckers” and “losers” in 2018. The author, Jeffrey Goldberg, cited four anonymous sources.
Nearly a dozen current and former Trump administration officials disputed the story. One, notably, was John Bolton, the former National Security Advisor who says he will not vote for Trump. “I was there,” he said, and “I didn’t hear that.”
Other claims in the Atlantic story are refuted by documentary evidence. The article claims, for instance, that Trump refused to visit the cemetery because the rain would ruin his hair. Bolton’s tell-all book said otherwise; so do official documents.
What is more interesting than the details of the story is how it was produced, and how it was rolled out. It has the appearance of a well-coordinated, well-executed campaign of disinformation, utilizing the full toolbox available to the Democratic Party.
The article was published Thursday evening. By Friday morning, a left-wing group called Vote Vets had not only produced an ad based on the article, but had aired it on Morning Joe — MSNBC’s early-morning flagship news and opinion show.
Meanwhile, the article spread across social media like a brush fire in a derecho. It trended at the top of Twitter; it was shared widely on Facebook, all without any of the “fact checks” that typically accompany disputed news reports on such platforms.
The Biden campaign issued a statement Thursday night — “If the revelations in today’s Atlantic article are true” — and held a press call Friday morning. The call featured, among others, Khizr Khan — the Gold Star father who attacked Trump in 2016.
A short time later, Biden himself held a press briefing on the U.S. economy. Though he was expected to discuss the August jobs report — which came in better than expected, at 1.4 million jobs added — he led with an angry tirade about the article.
At the end of his presentation, Biden turned to his campaign staff, who chose which reporters would be allowed to ask questions, and in what order. The first question went to Edward-Isaac Dovere, who writes for — surprise! — The Atlantic.
Dovere asked: “When you hear these remarks — ‘suckers,’ ‘losers,’ recoiling from amputees — what does it tell you about president Trump’s soul, and the life he leads?” It was a setup for Biden to attack Trump over the Atlantic allegations again.
None of the other questions asked were challenging in any way; all appeared to be setup questions for Biden to attack Trump or to clarify some lingering problem — whether he had been tested for coronavirus (yes), where his running mate was (busy).
No one asked Biden whether it was appropriate to attack Trump based on an unconfirmed report. No one even asked Biden about his economic policies.
What we witnessed Thursday night into Friday morning was the deployment of the Death Star — the full Democrat-media complex on display, coordinating journalists, outside political organizations, tech platforms, and unnamed military sources.
It may be no coincidence that retired General Stanley McChrystal — who was fired, ironically, because he had disparaged President Barack Obama and Biden — now advises a firm using military technology to help Democrats produce propaganda.
Further proof that the internal polling for Biden’s chances must be horrendous.
Billionaire philanthropist Laurene Powell Jobs, widow of former Apple CEO Steve Jobs, is the majority owner of The Atlantic, has donated over $1.2 million to former Vice President Joe Biden.
One thing Biden’s handlers know: he is no longer in the Senate where he can openly lie.
So, they had him keep adding, “IF IT’S TRUE.”
They know it isn’t and it’s elder abuse to have a senile old man mouth such words for them.
@Nan G:
What Are They Pumping Into Joe Biden? His Hand Has Bruise From IV-Drip
Yesterday, when Joe Biden visited Kenosha, Wisconsin — after condemning President Trump’s visit — a video of Biden shows a dark bruise with a needle puncture mark on his left hand.
And here’s a screenshot I took from the video (I circled the bruise in yellow):
Tweeters who are nurses and other medical professionals all identified Biden’s bruise and needle mark as the bruising from an IV (intravenous) drip, elderly people’s skin being thin and easily bruised. Joe Biden will be 78 years old on November 20.
Tweeter @MAGABruno1917 alerts us to the fact that there is an experimental drug called aducanomab that is delivered via monthly IV infusions to reduce cognitive decline in patients with early Alzheimer’s, the most common form of senile dementia.
The drug is called aducanumab. The FDA accepted the Biologics License Application (BLA) for Biogen’s aducanumab last month:
https://investors.biogen.com/news-releases/news-release-details/fda-accepts-biogens-aducanumab-biologics-license-application
The drug is experimental, and other drugs in its class failed miserably!
There are any number of other drugs that might be pumped into someone with cognitive impairment that may give symptomatic relief. Stay tuned!!
As in the article, it is noteworthy that there are no Facebook “fact checking” or warnings about the truth of these accusations. Of course they have to crank out their ads and rush to condemn Trump for unverified and unsubstantiated, not to mention unbelievable, accusations; they are so phony and weak, they have a short shelf life. But, for the atrophied mind of the liberal Trump hater, long after the details have faded, their residual hatred remains. They still hate over “all Mexicans are rapists” and don’t even remember the facts; hell, never CARED about the facts. They simply craved something to stoke their hatred.
@Deplorable Me:
Think about the pawn greg here who runs with unsubstantiated stories over and over again. And, when these are shown to be completely inaccurate, poof, greg disappears.
We have all come across this type of person in our lives. I for one find these types of people to be reprobates and not worthy of serious verbal engagement. These are problem individuals that unfortunately exist in our society. greg is not a serious thinking person, he is a paid troll, nothing more. No one who regularly gets his shit handed to him would stay around for more. Think FA people, he does not do what he does because he thinks he is changing minds among the FA community. He does it for the people who read and do not engage in discussion and because he is paid to do so….
@July 4th American: I guess the liberal media is not interested in rehabilitating their damaged credibility. They don’t even TRY to feign honesty anymore.
@Deplorable Me:
It is getting beyond ridiculous. Saw where they are intravenously drugging biden. Yeah, that is what America wants, a puppet. Oh wait, we have already had that, 2009-20016
Curt, I’ve notice Breitbart and other Trump protective sites going into full blown defense mode on Trump’s obvious disdain of our troops. We’re seeing the same old movie over and over again and this one is just that same rerun: “he didn’t say that” along with “he may have said it but he didn’t mean it” which will soon turn to “okay he meant it but (kinda like the need to include a pic of Hillary on the thread) others did it to (even if they didn’t) to “well maybe fallen soldiers are losers after all” only to cascade back to “he didn’t say it” or simply remaining silent and responding with a “but Hillary”.
We even have aides coming out to liberal outlets with a defense of “The president means no disrespect to our troops; it’s just that the way he speaks, he can sound like an asshole sometimes, That’s how he is [when the cameras are off]… It’s his style.” So there’s the “okay he said it but he didn’t mean it”.
But an interesting question is, if he did say it, admits to have said it, says it again, even adamantly declaring it with full intent during the debates, well, so what? Would it matter? Does anything Trump does or could do matter? Okay that last question was silly considering the lawlessness and divisiveness and thumping the Constitution we’ve seen thus far seems to have been met with approval.
I realize you’re unlikely to respond so I suspect and expect nothing more than the gibberish and distractions from the resident Trump bowel dwellers but I thought I’d ask.
@Ronald J. Ward: It’s called “journalism”. If only the left would make an attempt at it.
Who? Names?
I wonder, have you EVER posted anything based on facts?
Dems have to be careful.
Some of them slandered our soldiers more recently than our WW1 (1914-1918) dead.
A presidential candidate said our soldiers murdered “in the manner of Jingis Khan,” for example.
A celebrity liberal Dem called all our soldiers “war criminals.”
When our soldiers managed to come home alive liberals and Dems spit on them!
There certainly was nothing unusual for a young person to oppose the vietnam war. It seemed like about half the population opposed it.
As to Iraq, I recall liberals from here at FA saying such things as, “that country had nothing to do with 9-11-10, why attack it?” and “there were no wmds in Iraq, so why are we there?” Civilian Donald Trump was in liberal company back then.
@Ronald J. Ward: For 3 years your party has tried anything and everything to disparage Trump. Nothing has worked. One would think after two years of the Mueller nonsense you would realize you’ve been played for a fool by the media you follow and trust. A normal rational person would realize this and change sources for news. But you learned nothing it appears, so those places you go for information laugh at you and feed you more BS, which you lap up. When your favorite trusted source is named anonymous I guess being a sucker appeals to you. Just don’t think you can sell it elsewhere and be taken seriously. The current story you are hanging on is nothing new. https://pjmedia.com/columns/matt-margolis/2020/09/05/fake-viral-trump-quotes-are-nothing-new-n895881
Meanwhile this is your party.
@Mully: Some of the people that actually believed that conspiracy BS might have had revelations, but most don’t even believe any of it. They just support it as something to get rid of Trump because they know how their failed party has collapsed and lost all faith in winning by honest, legal elections.
Crap-merchants like AJ just look for the next scam when one fails. He knows they are lying; hell, look at the weak lies HE promotes. He doesn’t care about the truth; the truth doesn’t serve his purposes. He, and every other Democrat, knows only lies can save them.
While you were focused on The Atlantic, Trump dealt a devastating blow to Critical Race Theorists
@Julu 4th American: Who else but Trump has the guts to stand up to that BS?
@Mully:
Bless the hearts of those indoctrinated by their daily nonstop consumption of Fox News, Trump lies, and the right wing conspiracy theory propaganda machine.
It’s unimaginable that anyone of reasonable intellect and with a slight knowledge of the reality of politics could actually allow themselves to buy into such nonsense which has been debunked over and over again. We all know what Mueller said and why he wasn’t allowed to prosecute Trump, that there was no exoneration but rather that Mueller’s hands were tied in that area. We all know that Trump was guilty as charged of withholding congressional approved funding from Ukraine in exchange for an electoral gain. Not only did he admit it out loud on several occasion and that his very defense team admit to “mountains of evidence” that incriminated him, that’s who the man is. He would have been out of character to have not committed treason or bribery as he’s proved it over and over- torching the USPS with an admission for political gain, slowing COVID testing with an admission that bad numbers would hurt him politically, and even openly defying the Hatch Act and using tax payer’s resources for his own political advantage.
So when you have a rouge con man and thief who has no respect for the rule of law, no respect or concern of the damage his actions will produce, and even knowingly impedes the progress of ending a pandemic because of his reelection chances- all of which he’s said to live audiences or on live interviews- yes, the Dems have and should have done everything in their power to save our country and Americans from this racist and destructive egomaniac who has no regards of the rule of law, our Constitution, our economic well being, or even American lives.
Here’s the thing of you poor soles who have allowed your deep seeded hatred of Democrats. You won’t accept realities of the negativeness, shortcomings, and scandals of the leader of our government because you’ve been instructed not to by the leader of our government. You could ask me to verify my accusations but you’d reject them because they didn’t come from Fox News, ANON, QANON, or from the Trump Admin. Those sources are not going to honestly report those realities because they protect Trump and his propaganda. And even when they do actually offer a watered down soft ball report, or when Trump literally admits it, you still won’t believe it.
@Ronald J. Ward: Trump’s actions, concerning our troops, speak louder than words. No new wars, pulling troops out, more pay, stronger military.
Trump is very pro-military, and that latest proof-texted hoax means nothing.
Disband the police, and get control of the military.
Important steps in any Marxist coup.
We’re going to find you go the way of Michael Reinoehl some night on the evening news
@Ronald J. Ward:
Apparently, not. He found no crimes and no obstruction. He wasn’t there to exonerate anyone but to find crimes… and he found NOTHING. What happened to all that “evidence” Schiff said he had? Perhaps Mueller could have used it!
Keep maintaining your ignorance. Seems to be the only thing you can accomplish.
@Ronald J. Ward:
We pool souls have no deep seated hatred of anyone. You have been lied to it is fully documented, yet you accept the continued twisting in the wind of talking heads on your cable propaganda.
Spin with them and repeat them like a good lil mocking bird. When your anonymous sources turn out to be the voices in their heads they soon are the voices in your head. A seed to deeply planted will not flourish its to bad you are such a victim of public education that you dont know the difference between the bottom of a shoe and the the incorporeal essence of a living being.
Have a great day Mr Ward try hard not to make a fool of yourself again.
The Atlantic Article: too little, too late.
Trying to seed disinformation that Trump is anti-military is an act of complete desperation.
@Nathan Blue: Well, that’s what desperate people who cling to lies react to having no hope of legally winning an election.
@Nathan Blue:
The problem is that these are the damage control talking points coming from the Trump admin and are not consistent with reality. There’s no more truth in it as there is in their continued claim that “Trump built the strongest economy in the world and he can do it again”. And we’re even seeing Trump taking credit for pro-troop legislation passed in 2014. What you are parroting are Trump lies that have been debunked over and over again by non-Trump allegiance news sources (which you have been instructed to disregard) and has been promoted by the dishonest Trump supporting propaganda outlets such as the Federalist, QANON, and others (which you have been instructed to park your brain at the door and mindlessly adhere to without question).
To take things a bit further, it doesn’t matter if the Atlantic is right or wrong or if Trump states the alleged disparagement out loud. It doesn’t matter because you would still defend or deflect it, just as you have with his assault on peaceful protesters for his bible photo op, just as you have on his torching the USPS, just as you have on his thumping the Hatch Act law of the land, and just as you have on his crime against humanity of slowing COVID testing for his own political advantage and just as you have on numerous other acts that don’t come to mind as of the moment. You would still be parroting the talking points of his propaganda machine or chanting something about Hillary or Obama.
@Nathan Blue:
democrats know they have lost the electoral election to President Trump. biden has nothing to offer America or Americans.
The only way to put in the sanders/Harris/biden socialist plan is the commit mail fraud on a massive level.
@Ronald J. Ward: You simply cant help yourself continue like a mindess mocking bird repeat propaganda, with zero facts. In which states has Trump slowed testing? Where are facts to back the twisted propaganda you spout?
https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-testing#how-many-tests-are-performed-each-day. Somewhere in the limited paranoid brain capacity in your cranium Trump has Super Powers beyond anything human. Perhaps you should have the doctor preform a blood test for common nutritional deficiency and or elevated homocysteine levels.
@Ronald J. Ward: There’s no damage to control.
All of your standard and completely contrived talking points are rather useless, so I’d stop throwing rocks when you live in a glass house.
People who think differently than you are allowed to think that way, speak what they want, and vote how they want.
You don’t get everything your way all the time in a constitutional republic with Democratic process.
You can think whatever you want about Trump. He’s in office because he won the election.
There’s another election coming up. We will vote, and either Trump or Biden will win.
That’s how it works. You don’t support the degradation of our Democratic process just because you don’t like the person in office. It doesn’t matter how right you think you are.
The danger here is that you are supporting a one-party Marxist police state who wants to take complete control. They use people like you to wage their wars.
Wake up.
And I want to be clear that I am a Liberal. My political leaning is a little left of center. The Democrat Party no longer represents what I believe.
I can’t say the Republican Party does either. What Trump represents, is more or less a third party that is made up of the vast majority of Americans. As with normal distributions, anywhere from 50 to 75% of people represent more or less the “middle”.
You a supporting a far left fringe who just happens to have a very big bull horn. They are not normal and they are not mainstream.
You can’t continue to point out all of Trump’s flaws while ignoring all of the gaffs and hypocrisies of your own party.
I see Trump as no savior. I vote for him because he has been and will continue to be an effective leader. That’s my opinion, and that’s my right.
You’re blatherings are an effort to silence all those who do not support your extremely small part of the political spectrum.
That’s wrong.
@Ronald J. Ward: By the way, 80% of all new sources aid and abet the Democrat Party and the Left.
much of why you hold the opinions that you do are because of information saturation of left-wing agendas.
Trump does have the benefit of a few conservative news outlets, but it is completely nullified by the vast disinformation campaigns waged by legacy, mainstream news outlets.
any claim of right-wing indoctrination by a news outlet is laughable. Those outlets exist as a response to the vast media corruption and furtherment of left-wing talking points 24/7.
Trump has had to win and operate at the detriment of having hoax after hoax manufactured by media and Democrat allies that are affecting a perpetual soft coup.
That’s not good for our country and it’s not the way we do things.
You sound just like Obama haters, from the last Administration. Obama lies and Obama is a failure and Obama is blah blah blah…
It doesn’t matter because Obama was our president. I didn’t like him, but for the good of the republic I would never suggest he wasn’t supposed to be there. I would never suggest my fellow Americans votes didn’t count in.
You and your people have crossed the line. Luckily I and other mature Americans will pull you back behind it.
You’re welcome.
19 Reasons Why The Democrats Will Lose in 2020
THE DEMOCRATIC DOOMSDAY LIST OF PROMISES
THE DEMOCRATIC DOOMSDAY LIST OF PROMISES
Open borders for all
Unlimited and un-vetted immigration (legal and illegal)
Sanctuary cities for illegals (but no help for Veterans)
Free Housing for Illegals while hundreds of thousands of Legal American citizens are homeless
Free Medical Health, Education and Finance for Illegals from American tax payers who are struggling to keep their heads above- water even with Trump’s booming economy
Undermining to the point of removing the 2nd Amendment regarding arming “We the People”
Removing ICE from all borders
Driving licences for illegals so that they can vote Democrat
Eradicating tuition fees worth almost one trillion dollars
No discrimination between genders no matter how depraved any can be
Free abortions for all females and the murder of the newly born ones if the mother does not want it
Taxing the rich and major corporation to oblivion
Unsustainable minimum wages starting with $15.00 per hour thus forcing businesses to go robotic depriving millions of young Americans from even the minimum wage
Reducing defence spending and the military
Overturning as many of Trumps’ very successful Executive Orders as they can
Re admitting the USA to the UN Climate Change protocol
Eliminating all fossil fuels and going Green costing over 52 Trillion $$$
The list, of insane and impossible to attain promises, financial and others, continues unabated and unabashed
Democrats are so far left they are now in the Infra-Red Spectrum; literally off the wall and into the abyss
@Ronald J. Ward:
Name one person that heard Trump say anything bad about war dead, veterans or the military. Name one. Otherwise, you simply are a liar that craves lies.
@Nathan Blue:
When the president of the U.S. admits to things to a live audience such as the case of slowing COVID testing, and when he admits the need to torch the USPS, and when he openly breaches the Hatch Act right in front of our eyes, and when it’s televised on live TV he assaults peaceful protesters for no other reason than a photo opportunity, these are not “opinions” of the left nor is it the left wing media trying to take him down. This is you doing all you can to protect a criminal.
And these are just recent events which excludes his impeachable offensives, which he admitted to on several occasions. It excludes the lawlessness he’s surrounded himself with as his cabinet and White House has been a swinging door of law breaking thugs. It excludes his firing of inspector generals and defying the very law he signed which required oversight of $1/2 trillion in COVID aid, that he refused to act when his Saudi pal Mohammed bin Salman killed a U.S. journalist, that he pardoned obviously guilty criminals because they protected him, that he’s refused to hold Russia accountable or even investigate the bounties they put on our men in uniform, the long list of encouraging police violence- again on live TV in front of an audience, to kids in cages to tear gassing moms, and to his well over 20K documented lies. It doesn’t include that COVID is not anywhere near under control and that the economy is in serious trouble-which by all accounts he’s seems to have given up on or is still in denial of that reality.
Maybe this is what you’re referring to as 80% of reporting being left wing and maybe this is what I meant when I said the other 20% is either not going to report it or is going to sugarcoat it.
But back to my main argument, none of this matters. It doesn’t matter if some of it you can credibly argue against and it doesn’t matter if he admits to every bit of it and it’s all validated as indisputably true. You and his cult will protect him to the bitter end.
This isn’t only what I’ve been saying you’d do for years, it’s what you do on a daily basis.
@Ronald J. Ward:
Oh, please, provide link and quotes.
And what “thugs” would that be that has sat on Trump’s cabinet? Name them and name the “thuggish” things they have done.
Oh, my gosh, no president has ever fired inspectors general before, right?
Again, provide link and proof of this claim.
This had got to be one of the most ridiculous things you claim.
#1, Khashoggi was NOT an American. He was a Saudi national working for an American publication. #2, Khashoggi was not murdered in the U.S. He was murdered in a Saudi embassy (Saudi national property) on Turkish soil. #3, exactly what authority do you think a U.S. president has over a crime committed on another nations citizen ond another nation’s soil. To refer to Khashoggi as an “American” journalist is dishonest to the hilt.
Are you saying Alice Johnson protected Trump?
Since you seem to believe that Russia rigged the 2016 election, what did Obama do about it since it happened on his watch?
The Pentagon claims there is no proof of that. But I will grant you that Russia has put bounties on the heads of American military, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan which Obama did not one damn thing about.
Gee, then I wonder why the police associations, and unions, are all supporting Trump. Maybe you think all American police officers are into self abuse.
You mean the cages Obama has built?
Does being a mom mean you can break the law?
.
Let me see; jobs are coming back, the stock market is rallying, sales taxes (at least in my state) hit a record high in August, unemployment is going down. What the hell are you talking about.
As to the Chi-Com flu, numbers are rapidly falling and even the CDC is revising the death rates.
So you want to dance, Ward/AJ, let’s dance but you better bring more to the dance than you have so far. All you do is throw out left wing talking points with no verification.
The majority of so-called “journalists” are left wing. Even those that show up on Fox. It’s due to the Walter School of Journalism. When left leaning UCLA says most “journalists” are left wing, you can take it to the bank.
I’m beginning to think your mind is being altered with illegal drugs.
@Ronald J. Ward:
Please provide the exact and full quote of him slowing testing, torching the USPS, the evidence of violation of the Hatch Act (read it), where a single peaceful protester has been assaulted by him. When you don’t, we will all declare you a liar (again).
95% is negative and false, but this is nothing new.
@retire05:
Worse; by liberalism and left wing propaganda. It works on the weak minded.
@Ronald J. Ward: You have to be a paid troll, or mentally impaired at this point.
Your points have be soundly debated, and defeated.
You hate Trump. Got it.
Your rabid desire for a Trump supporter to admit Trump has made mistakes isn’t rooted in objectivity. We’ve admitted it, but you’re not listening.
Trump’s flaws do not give you the right to stage coup, however.
You Party is shit, your Party’s platform is shit, and Biden is a joke.
Seriously?
What does admitting Trump’s flaws, then mean to you?
All of your opinions about Trump were given to you, little dog.
Think for yourself.
@Nathan Blue: Perhaps we are missing the obvious. I think he could be running his own satirical site, like the Babylon Bee… maybe the AJ Bee or The Turnip. In that context, he is far more humorous than just another typical left wing liar desperate to make his own failed ideology seem viable in his own mind.
@Deplorable Me: He really needs more than one angle to his comedy /satire routine the, Now you take Trump…please routine filled with long debunked accusations of MSM , then pulling the old Don Rickels insulting the audience is simply joke theft, he is no Uncle Miltie.
Anonymous sources said that deranged Trump haters like Ron/AJ prefer unverified anonymous sources for any new piece of bias-confirmation they imbibe like a wino on Discount Liquor Friday.
Meanwhile, Biden can say things on camera and they will say it didn’t happen.
@Nathan Blue:
Anonymous sources from reputable news outlets who scrutinize the leader of our government and which the leader of our government has instructed you to vehemently reject is of no comparison with what a resident troll of a unhinged and racist Trump enabling weblog claims they’ve heard from an anonymous source.
If you still can’t get it, perhaps I can type that a bit slower for you?
@Ronald J. Ward:
Editor of The Atlantic has now admitted that parts of the CemetetyGate story are, in fact, actually NOT TRUE. He admitted on CNN that the trip WAS cancelled due to bad weather.
Despite having to admit that parts of the story was false, Goldberg stated “the public’s interest in meeting this information outweigh the ambiguities or the difficulties of anonymous sourcing.”
So while The Atlantic published a bogus story that dumasses like you swallow hook, line and sinker, 15 people who were on the trip claim Trump never said what the article said and that includes John Bolton who said that Jennifer Griffin was wrong and it never happened as he was on that trip with Trump. No one can accuse Bolton of being a Trump licker, as you like to call people.
You’re the one that doesn’t get it, Ward/AJ.
Has anyone checked to see where Col. Vindman was that day? We know he likes to make shit up.
Oh, and I’m still waiting for you to tell me why I should vote for Biden and what wonderful things he achieved as a career politician.
@Ronald J. Ward
Here is your theory in a nutjob shell.
I tell a huge nasty lie about you to a publication that the owner hates you
It gets published
I tell both Nathan and 05 the same lie
Well that is verification! By both of them so its true!
None will tell that it was me that made up the horrible lie about you.
See how that works?
@Ronald J. Ward: The Atlantic is not reputable. That’s why they appeal to you.