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Time to change libel laws: Trump responds to ‘ludicrous’ fabricated quote that went viral

May 27, 2019 | | Print Article

New York University professor Ian Bremmer may be basking in the attention he has drawn on himself by tweeting a fake quote he attributed to President Donald Trump, thinking he is too clever by half, but little does the liberal know that he may have set off an unexpected chain of events.

Responding to Bremmer’s fabricated quote in a tweet Monday morning, Trump said that in “the age of Fake News,” libel laws need to be changed to hold the news media accountable.

“.@ianbremmer now admits that he MADE UP ‘a completely ludicrous quote,’ attributing it to me. This is what’s going on in the age of Fake News. People think they can say anything and get away with it. Really, the libel laws should be changed to hold Fake News Media accountable!” the president tweeted.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1132933851133534210

The offending tweet from Bremmer read: “Kim Jong Un is smarter and would make a better President than Sleepy Joe Biden.”

It was quickly disseminated on social media by Democratic members of Congress and anti-Trump media personalities, drawing a wave of criticism against President Trump, before Bremmer deleted it.

After being called out online for the fake quote, Bremmer responded in another tweet he would delete, justifying his actions by saying that it’s something Trump might have said.

“This is objectively a completely ludicrous quote. And yet kinda plausible. Especially on twitter, where people automatically support whatever political position they have. That’s the point,” the tweet read.

Fittingly, Bremmer is a foreign affairs columnist and editor-at-large for liberal Time Magazine.

His deceptive tweet was prompted by a tweet from Trump on North Korea firing off missiles and an editorial from the official Korean Central News Agency calling former Vice President Joe Biden a “fool of low IQ.”

“North Korea fired off some small weapons, which disturbed some of my people, and others, but not me. I have confidence that Chairman Kim will keep his promise to me, & also smiled when he called Swampman Joe Biden a low IQ individual, & worse. Perhaps that’s sending me a signal?” the president tweeted as he began a state visit to Japan on Sunday.

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1132459370816708608

All of which had the TDS crowd in a collective uproar, claiming Trump was siding with the North Korean dictator over Biden, a fellow American.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders then threw gasoline on a raging fire in an appearance Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” telling anchor Chuck Todd that while  Trump isn’t siding with Kim Jong Un, “they agree in their assessment of former Vice President Joe Biden.”

As assessment that didn’t go over well, but even there, critics could not justify what Bremmer did.

President Trump said in January 2018 that he wanted to take “a strong look” at libel laws in response to a book by Michael Wolff that contained false claims, according to the White House.

(And Bremmer may have just prompted a reminder of that charge.)

“Our current libel laws are a sham and a disgrace,” Trump said before a Cabinet meeting. “We are going to take a strong look at our country’s libel laws so that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts.”

 

American Civil Liberties Union attorney Brian Hauss called Trump’s bluff, according to Fox News.

“There is no federal libel law, and the president does not have the authority to change state libel laws,” he said. “[The] First Amendment provides strong protections against libel liability, particularly with respect to statements about public figures or matters of public concern.”

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld offered an astute observation on the fake Bremmer tweet, suggesting that one’s fate on Twitter might end differently if they try that with former Vice President Joe Biden.

As for Bremmer claiming the quote was “plausible,” funny how that defense did not fly too well for conservative actor James Woods when he was suspended for the first time — the outspoken actor remains suspended as of this writing for a second offense.

The actor’s tweet in question above depicted three liberal soy boys in a meme that declared: “We’re making a Woman’s Vote Worth more by staying home.”

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the Bremmer incident from Twitter:

https://twitter.com/JackPosobiec/status/1132870779673227264

https://twitter.com/ParkerMolloy/status/1132734581373898753

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Tom Tillison
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