President Donald Trump has made a mantra of his “fake news” attack on journalists. However, he has repeatedly retweeted false stories and the most recent is particularly concerning. Trump shared an edited video made by a comedian that falsely portrayed Rep. Ilhan Omar dancing and partying on the 18th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It triggered a chorus of objections. It was also entirely untrue.
In the video posted by comedian Terrence K. Williams showed the clip of Omar dancing and added: “I need to talk to Omar. Girl, what in the world were you celebrating on the anniversary of 9/11?”
When Trump shared the video with his 64 million Twitter followers, he tweeted, in part, “The new face of the Democrat Party!”
The video was actually taken a couple days after the 9-11 anniversary at an event celebrating her and four other freshman members. Omar has faced threats over her Muslim faith and was recently criticized at the 9-11 memorial for a controversial statement about the attack.
It is important not to allow this to become the new normal. It is reckless and dangerous for a president to retweet such false postings, particularly with a member who has already faced threats of violence.