Perhaps a bit of wish-fulfilment in the title on my part, as I really do hope the Trump presidency comes to an end and that Trump's tweet yesterday really was the straw that broke the camel's back, not just for his aides but a majority of the public. A president that engages and promotes conspiracy theories is unfit for office, but we knew that about Trump long before he became president when he was peddling birtherism many years ago. We seem to have reached the point where enough really is enough with Trump, and it's time for him to leave.
Source: Jonathan Swan/Axios
“My phone blew up yesterday with texts from White House aides, current and former, who seemed at their wits’ end over President Trump’s tweet that the 75-year-old Buffalo protester who was rushed to the hospital after being shoved by police last week ‘could be an ANTIFA provocateur.’ They rarely register the president’s tweets anymore — let alone complain about them. This one felt different.”
“POTUS aides and the campaign had constructed this week around getting Trump into the conversation around rebuilding/recovering, listening to ideas about police reform, etc. One former aide remarked that it’s tweets like this that make him wonder whether Trump actually wants to get re-elected.”
Buffalo protester shoved by Police could be an ANTIFA provocateur. 75 year old Martin Gugino was pushed away after appearing to scan police communications in order to black out the equipment. @OANN I watched, he fell harder than was pushed. Was aiming scanner. Could be a set up?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2020
And some more background on "The Tweet," via Axios.
The conspiracy theory, which originated on the far-right blog Conservative Treehouse, made its way to the president via a report on One America News Network, a small Fox News rival with a history of conspiracy-focused reporting. It highlights just how far the president's media consumption can veer from the mainstream.
The blog post claims — all without evidence — that the protester, Martin Gugino, used "a phone as a capture scanner" as "a method of police tracking used by Antifa to monitor the location of police."
The OANN reporter, Kristian Rouz, is a Russian national who also writes for Kremlin-owned Sputnik, per The Daily Beast.
Here's the first half of the batshit OANN segment Trump just tweeted. It alleges the 75 year old man assaulted by Buffalo police officers was an antifa operative, based on a report from Conservative Treehouse. pic.twitter.com/CeMVyJcoh8
— Matthew Gertz (@MattGertz) June 9, 2020
