The Never Trump Lincoln Project, led by the likes of George Conway, Steve Schmidt, and Rick Wilson, has been flagged by Twitter for spreading “manipulated media” over its presentation of a portion of President Trump’s Salute to America July 4 speech.
“What’s wrong with the President?” the Lincoln Project tweeted alongside a video that attempted to make it sound as if Trump said operation Desert Storm took place in Vietnam:
What’s wrong with the President? https://t.co/hfQiyQCdk0
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) July 5, 2020
This video is grossly misleading.
President Trump did not say Operation Desert Storm is in the jungles of Vietnam.
All this person had to do was back-up the video some 15 seconds. https://t.co/UutDyocbox pic.twitter.com/axUaA91LK9
— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) July 5, 2020
A look at the full context of the quote shows that Trump made no such claim. Even the left-wing fact-checker Snopes admitted such:
During a portion of his speech in which Trump was lauding the prowess of U.S. military aircraft, he stumbled over the word “sweeping” (either because the teleprompter displayed the wrong word, or he simply misread it), and thus the historical progression he was invoking at the time (from World War II to Korea to Vietnam to Desert Storm) got a bit lost in the shuffle. But a transcript of his words clearly shows his references to Vietnam and Desert Storm were two separate thoughts, not a declaration that the latter took place in the former.
"Swift and swip in" aside, it has been correctly pointed out that the preceding clip gives the misleading impression that Trump linked Desert Storm to Vietnam. He did not, as can be seen in the longer clip below: https://t.co/rUKykVDkOb
— David Emery (@debunker) July 5, 2020
Trump said:
In a few moments, we will bear witness to awesome aircraft representing every major military conflict over the last 75 years. These planes once launched off massive aircraft carriers in the fiercest battles of World War II. They raced through the skies of Korea’s MiG Alley. They carried American warriors into the dense fields and jungles of Vietnam. They delivered a swift and swip- — and you know that sweeping — it was swift and it was sweeping like nobody has ever seen anything happen — a victory in Operation Desert Storm. A lot of you were involved in that. A lot of you were involved. That was a quick one. And they have gone on to dangerous missions around the world to take out enemy terrorists and bring our soldiers home safely.
This video is manipulated.
Below is the full context. https://t.co/3E3k1GItgB pic.twitter.com/YCOm4WC8yM
— Giancarlo Sopo (@GiancarloSopo) July 5, 2020
CNN reporter Daniel Dale also noted that Trump did not make a “substantive error”:
People are sharing a short clip that makes it seem like Trump said Desert Storm happened in Vietnam. He did not, though he stumbled. Here's the transcript of that section. pic.twitter.com/vTlOnY9CAR
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) July 5, 2020
While some members of the establishment media admitted that the Lincoln Project presented a misleading video, many actively took part in ripping apart Trump’s Mount Rushmore speech, delivered the day prior. The New York Times described it as “dark and divisive,” while reporters at the Washington Post asserted that Trump’s “unyielding push to preserve Confederate symbols and the legacy of white domination” was “crystallized by his harsh denunciation of the racial justice movement” in Friday’s address.
The Lincoln Project has continued in his full-scale attacks on the president in hopes of sinking his chances of reelection. Last month, the Never Trumpers released a negative ad, attempting to cast the president as unwell and in decline.
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