Author, spiritual leader, and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson apparently fell for a fake article posted last month which claimed President Donald Trump posthumously pardoned Charles Manson, one of the most infamous cult leaders and criminals in American history.
According to the New York Post , Williamson ripped into the president on Twitter just after midnight on the morning of December 9.
“There is something deeply sinister about Trump pardoning Charles Manson, even posthumously. Dog whistles of the very worst possible kind,” Williamson tweeted. She reportedly deleted the false claim about an hour later, presumably after a flurry of blowback on social media.
The original, satirical article claiming that the president issued a posthumous pardon for the notorious killer appeared in mid-November on a website called moronmajority.com. The piece was later picked up by the popular left-leaning news website, Daily KOS , which is where many believe Williamson read the story.
Twitter’s reaction to the erroneous tweet was fast and furious, with thousands of reactions poking fun at and criticizing the struggling 2020 Democratic candidate.
Journalist Yashar Ali, a contributor for New York Magazine and HuffPost , slammed Williamson in a tweet not long after she initially mentioned the false claim.
“This never happened. Williamson just tweeted this. This is a woman who gets furious when she’s told that she’s unserious and not prepared to run,” Ali wrote.
Toronto Sun reporter Bryan Passifiume also had a little fun with Williamson’s tweet.
“There’s *something* not right about Charles Manson getting pardoned, but she can’t quite put her finger on it…” he tweeted .
Hey @marwilliamson ,
Why did you delete this? pic.twitter.com/nMBPvJqIxo
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) December 9, 2019
Manson, who served over 45 years in prison for his crimes, including directing his “Manson family” to kill seven people in 1969, died while incarcerated at California State Prison, Corcoran in 2017 at the age of 83.
Though Williamson managed to raise $3 million in third-quarter fundraising, she has mostly fallen below the political radar following her appearances in the earlier Democratic primary debates. Her polling numbers and lack of support have kept her off a majority of the subsequent debates, offering little hope that the fringe candidate will make any headway at this point in the process.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr , Williamson made headlines in October after weighing in on Trump’s impeachment inquiry, in which she said she “absolutely” supported the president’s impeachment and even suggested Trump acted in a “lawless” manner in his dealings with Ukraine.
The self-help author has consistently stayed below one percent support in most polls, offering little hope for a campaign breakthrough in the future.