On Saturday night in Green Bay, Wisconsin, Donald Trump told a crowd of 10,000 supporters what, as Inquisitr reported, can only described as a horrifying lie, fabricating a story in which the mother of a newborn baby and her doctor, after wrapping the baby in a blanket, decide whether to “execute” the baby. Trump used the false story to back up his equally false claim that Democrats somehow support the killing of live newborn infants.
“NO ONE ever, in any hospital, nor any mother who has just given birth, is conspiring with a doctor on whether or not to commit infanticide,” one registered nurse, Julia Pulver — a 2018 Democratic state senate candidate in Michigan — stated on her Twitter account
As Talking Points Memo noted, existing laws, as would be expected, make the murder of living babies an extremely serious crime. Wisconsin Republicans, however, are proposing what they call a “born alive” abortion bill that would supposedly protect babies who survive abortion procedures — an extraordinarily rare occurrence. Those newborns, of course, are already protected by laws against murder and infanticide.
But none of the facts stopped Trump from describing a creepy and chilling scenario, and one that he completely made up.
“The baby is born. The mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby,” Trump said at the rally. “They wrap the baby beautifully. Then the doctor and mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.”
unbelievable LIE By Trump:
TRUMP: “The baby is born. The mother meets with the doctor. They take care of the baby. They wrap the baby beautifully. And then the doctor and the mother determine whether or not they will execute the baby.” pic.twitter.com/3HN6GxcJ27
— PoliticsVideoChannel (@politvidchannel) April 28, 2019
But in its own Twitter posting about Trump’s lie, The New York Times used a euphemism, calling Trump’s tale an “inaccurate refrain.”
Fact check: At a rally on Saturday in Green Bay, Wisconsin, President Trump revived an inaccurate refrain about doctors “executing babies” https://t.co/Xc6JyVg5wh
— The New York Times (@nytimes) April 28, 2019
The NYT euphemism produced a reaction of disbelief from Twitter users, including actor Jon Cryer..
Wow.
So now lying is “reviving an inaccurate refrain”
Jesus @nytimes https://t.co/9dQGevRMrI
— Jon Cryer (@MrJonCryer) April 28, 2019
Legal expert Susan Hennessy was also struck by the Times ‘ apparent effort to avoid using the word “lie.”
https://twitter.com/Susan_Hennessey/status/1122574343052066816?s=20
Political commentator and popular Twitter personality Peter Daou said that he “inaccurate refrain” phrasing “makes it sound like Trump sang a song off key. FACT: HE’S LYING AND INCITING VIOLENCE AGAINST ANYONE WHO SUPPORTS FREEDOM OF CHOICE,” Daou wrote in all capital letters.
Historian Kevin Kruse also made a musical analogy in his Twitter comment on the NYT euphemism, saying it “sounds like he performed CPR on someone garbling the chorus to ‘Louie, Louie.’”
IT WAS NOT AN “INACCURATE REFRAIN”
IT WAS A BOLD-FACED LIE https://t.co/a1NqmycsGM
— Judd Legum (@JuddLegum) April 28, 2019
This is a LIE. An inaccurate refrain would be like singing “don’t go JASON waterfalls”. ?
— Cecile Richards (@CecileRichards) April 28, 2019
“These bills (are offered) merely to create the false impression that abortion providers practice infanticide,” Alta Charo, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor of law, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel , commenting on the “born alive” abortion bill. Charo added that all infants born alive are covered by a wide range of the same laws that cover all living human beings in Wisconsin and the United States, including homicide laws, child abuse statutes, and constitutional guarantees of equal protection.
