Sen. Ted Cruz’s latest attempt at owning those danged libs failed miserably on Thursday when the Texas Republican fell for a tweet of a nonexistent news story supposedly published in The Atlantic.
Cruz tweeted a link to what looked like an Atlantic article headlined “The Evolution of White Supremacy” with this subhead: “In Dearborn Michigan, Muslim parents who oppose teaching pornography to children develop into the brand new face of the far right.”
Later, after many individuals identified that there was no such Atlantic article, Cruz deleted his tweet.
The story that was the supposed subject of the tweet does have a basis in point of fact. A bunch of Muslim parents recently did object to LGBTQ books being available to students, in keeping with the Detroit Free Press.
Nonetheless, the Atlantic never wrote in regards to the controversy, and the writer credited with writing the nonexistent article, Abby Ohlheiser, hasn’t worked for the magazine since 2014, in keeping with WGHP-TV.
Naturally, Twitter users fact-checked Cruz’ post and located it fact-free.
So, someone created a fake story, slapped @abbyohlheiser‘s byline on it regardless that they have not worked at The Atlantic since 2014, which has led to a bombardment of harassment, and now a U.S. Senator is sharing said fake article. pic.twitter.com/sKTS26ENd1
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) October 14, 2022
Some people called out the senator for deleting his tweet of the fake article without publicly admitting his mistake.
When Cruz finally fessed up, he blamed a well-known scapegoat: the media.
“Didn’t comprehend it was fake,” he wrote. “You guys are so insane, it could easily have been real.”
Didn’t comprehend it was fake. You guys are so insane, it could easily have been real.
But it surely wasn’t. And so I deleted the tweet as soon as I discovered. https://t.co/5vD8OYJgDr
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 14, 2022
Some people decided Cruz needed to be reminded of other times he spread misinformation in his unending efforts to, yes, own those libs:
“It’s your fault I’m an idiot”
— Santiago Mayer (@santiagomayer_) October 14, 2022
Well, it’s a very good thing you haven’t got a job where having a critical eye toward sharing information and whether something is real or fake could have an outsize impact on a gaggle or on this case a person if you happen to aren’t careful. Take care, U.S. Senator Cruz.
— Steve Mullis (@stevemullis) October 14, 2022
Meanwhile, the journalist Ohlheiser said having her name falsely attached to a fake news story made for a difficult day.
It’s of course good and normal to wake as much as dms calling you a groomer because some maga shitposter photoshopped your byline onto a fake article for a publication you have not worked for in a decade
— Abby Ohlheiser (@abbyohlheiser) October 13, 2022
