A few days ago, a parody account that writes parody tweets put out an obvious parody of a Lindsay Graham statement.
The joke, such as it is, is not subtle. Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-S.C., who went from mocking President Trump to generally supporting him, now claims that President Trump knows more than expert scientists, hardy har har har har har.
I don’t mean to be rude, but if you can’t tell this is a joke, you have a serious problem. Either you are deluded by irrational Trump hatred, or you are a weak victim of the daily barrage of propaganda that comes out from anti-Trump corporate media. Neither is particularly flattering.
So I was shocked to see how many people fell for it.
This morning, a NeverTrump activist was retweeted by another professional NeverTrump activist in the media named Stuart Stevens. Their take:
Not only did they believe this obviously fake quote was real. They believed it showed, as everything they believe shows, the corruption and moral rot of people who have not joined their anti-Trumpist brigade. “Look what has happened to your party,” our moral betters who can’t reason particularly well lament.
Actor Don Cheadle, former Obama official and media head Alyssa Mastromonaco, former Bloomberg reporter Ryan Flinn, Philly Weekly writer Dr. Timaree, and Canadian journalist Frédéric Arnould all fell for it. NJTV correspondent Brenda Flanagan took it so seriously that she wrote, “‘When you mix politics and science, you get politics.’ — Author John Barry, The Great Influenza.”
Here are a few other blue checkmarks who fell for the cartoonishly fake quote.