While Donald Trump never tires of calling the media the “enemy of the people” promoting “fake news,” he was perfectly happy to spread lies about Nancy Pelosi he got from Fox Business host and informal adviser, Lou Dobbs.
There are two Pelosi-smear videos circulating in the right-wing media sphere. Each is an attempt to make her look mentally impaired after she questioned Trump’s competence, called for an intervention and suggested he needs a leave of absence. Media Matters explains the videos:
One spliced together clips of Pelosi’s comments on Thursday to make it seem like she stammered throughout the press conference. The other significantly slowed remarks Pelosi made during an appearance at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on May 22 to make her look inebriated. (Trump's personal attorney Rudy Giuliani tweeted and later deleted that manipulated video.)
Conspiracy theory website Infowars pushed the narrative with the headline “Watch Nancy Pelosi Stutter Slur And Suffer Memory Lapses in Press Conference.” Then Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs Tonight adopted a similar frame in an on-screen chyron and aired the deceptively spliced clip of the May 23 press conference.
Dobbs would almost certainly not have aired the video without the express approval of a producer. But if he had, and Fox had a problem with it, somebody in authority would have said so.
Meanwhile, Trump demonstrated again that his only standard for news is that it should make him look good. Without a concern for truth, pettiness or the fact that he’s supposed to represent all Americans, not just the ones who slobber over him, Trump retweeted Dobbs’ manipulated video, i.e. fake news, as truth:
“PELOSI STAMMERS THROUGH NEWS CONFERENCE” pic.twitter.com/1OyCyqRTuk
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 24, 2019
As Media Matters also noted, Diamond and Silk, the Fox Nation hosts noted for their dishonesty and ignorance announced on Fox & Friends that Pelosi seemed inebriated. They also took to Twitter to spread their latest lie in service to Dear Leader Trump:
.@DiamondandSilk opinion about Nancy Pelosi did NOT come from any Altered Video. We recently watched Nancy Pelosi in real time on live TV as we've done in the past. To Us, she looked like a Non-Functioning Alcoholic then & she still looks like one now #Intervention #AA #coverup
— Diamond and Silk® (@DiamondandSilk) May 24, 2019
(Trump caricature by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license.)
Actually some one should do that. There’d be nothing dishonest about it, just embarrassing and enlightening.