Trump Not Too Happy About Invented Quote

The president reacts to pundit who says it was purposely 'ludicrous'
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted May 27, 2019 12:05 PM CDT
Trump Not Too Happy Over Invented Quote
President Donald Trump reacts during a news conference with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, at Akasaka Palace in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday, May 27, 2019.   (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool Photo via AP)

A leading political scientist attributed a fake quote to President Trump—apparently in jest—and Trump kinda noticed, the Washington Post reports. Ian Bremmer, a think tank leader and cable news pundit, posted the quote on Twitter: "President Trump in Tokyo: 'Kim Jong Un is smarter and would make a better President than Sleepy Joe Biden,'" he wrote in a now-deleted post. The tweet was shared by people including CNN contributor Ana Navarro-Cardenas and Rep. Ted Lieu, per the Washington Examiner, and when confronted, Bremmer initially defended his invention. It was likely a reference to Trump siding with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Biden is a "low-IQ individual."

"This is objectively a completely ludicrous quote. And yet kinda plausible," Bremmer wrote in another tweet he's since deleted. "Especially on twitter, where people automatically support whatever political position they have. That's the point." It wasn't long before Trump took notice: "People think they can say anything and get away with it," he tweeted. "Really, the libel laws should be changed to hold Fake News Media accountable." (He has called for changes in libel laws before, per Slate.) Bremmer, who is also an editor and columnist for Time, later posted that "I should have been clearer. My apologies." He hasn't deleted that tweet. (More President Trump stories.)

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