President Trump Repeats Debunked Claim That Democrats Removed ‘Under God’ From Pledge Of Allegiance
President Donald Trump took to Twitter on Saturday to repeat a debunked claim that Democrats removed the words “under God” during recitations of the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democratic National Convention (DNC), Newsweek reported.
In the tweet, which Newsweek writer Benjamin Fearnow posited was an attempt to appeal to suburban, evangelical Christian voters, the president claimed that he was taken aback by the alleged omission.
“The Democrats took the word GOD out of the Pledge of Allegiance at the Democrat National Convention. At first I thought they made a mistake, but it wasn’t. It was done on purpose. Remember Evangelical Christians, and ALL, this is where they are coming from-it’s done. Vote Nov 3!”
In fact, this didn’t happen as the president described.
Several key parts of the convention were live-streamed to audiences at home, during which the Pledge was recited several times. In all of the broadcasted recitations, a compendium of which was tweeted by a Donald Trump parody Twitter account, the words “under God” can be heard plainly and clearly.
Similarly, in a video, which can be seen below, Biden’s grandchildren recite the pledge, including the phrase “under God.”
Joe Biden's grandchildren lead the Pledge of Allegiance on the first night of the #DemConvention. https://t.co/NFCK2ZqNNI pic.twitter.com/XCBFcxIVjQ
— ABC News (@ABC) August 18, 2020
There is, however, the smallest kernel of truth to Trump’s claim. In some smaller DNC meetings, attendees did recite the Pledge while omitting the “…under God” portion. In one such meeting of Muslim delegates, one member didn’t recite the phrase. Similarly, at a meeting of LGBTQ delegates, the phrase was omitted.
Further, on Friday night at the DNC, the attendees sang the national anthem, rather than reciting the Pledge.
The assertion that Democrats had removed “under God” from the Pledge during the convention was made prior to Trump’s Saturday tweet. As Politifact reported, former U.S. senatorial candidate Peggy Hubbard, a Republican, made the claim on Facebook on Friday night. It was immediately flagged by Facebook’s algorithm that identifies and labels false or misleading information.
The Pledge of Allegiance, as it’s known today, dates back to the late 1800s, although earlier pledges also existed. The version recited by American schoolchildren today was written by Francis Bellamy, although at the time it did not include the words “under God.” That change was made in 1954, at the height of the Cold War, when then-President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the addition into law.
For the past several decades, attempts have been made at removing the “under God” portion from the text, without success.
