Earlier this week, a couple of social media hoaxes attempting to tie President Trump to the death of George Floyd went viral. The intent is to put a good crisis to good use, and “good use” for today’s Democrats/left always means damaging Trump.
For the left, it’s always Orange Man Bad, and this attempt to tie both the actual George Floyd incident and the resulting riots to Trump is worth noting.
In these cases, the idea was to take the alarming death of George Floyd while in the custody of police in Democrat-run Minneapolis and to find some way, any way, to weaponize it against Trump.
During the same brief time period, quickly eclipsed by the resulting protests cum riots, two false stories were deployed on social media and went viral. Both attempted to tie Trump to, even implicate him in, George Floyd’s death.
The problem? That is not the officer in question in the “Make White’s Great Again” hat, and it was, of all outlets, HuffPo that pointed out the hoax.
The fake-out was spotted by HuffPost journalist Luke O’Brien, who has written extensively about the prankster, and has even interviewed him.
On Wednesday O’Brien retweeted a post by Ice Cube — one of the many people who was fooled into believing the two photos were the same person. “The man on the right isn’t Derek Chauvin. He isn’t a cop. He is Jonathan Lee Riches, a notorious con man, troll and prankster, not to mention the ‘world’s most litigious man.’ Riches injects himself, indefensibly, into tragic news events, even if it means going to prison,” O’Brien wrote. In his profile, he explained how Riches had previously pretended to be Sandy Hook killer Adam Lanza’s uncle in order to get interviewed by the media; he’s also posed as a member of “Jews for Trump”, “Muslims for Trump” and “Muslims For Hillary” campaigns at various rallies, in the hopes of grabbing media attention.
Among the many people (and things) he has named in lawsuits are Britney Spears, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, Steve Jobs, Nostradamus, Che Guevara, all survivors of the Holocaust, the Lincoln Memorial, the Eiffel Tower, Plymouth Rock, the Holy Grail, the planet Pluto.
The AP deemed this photo hoax false
CLAIM: A man pictured in a photo wearing a red baseball cap that says “Make Whites Great Again” is Derek Chauvin, a Minneapolis police officer videotaped kneeling on the neck of a black man during an arrest. The man, George Floyd, later died.
AP’S ASSESSMENT: False. The man in the photo is not Chauvin. Jonathan Lee Riches, a known internet troll, confirmed he is the man in the photo, but he says the image was altered and he was not wearing the hat.
THE FACTS: On May 27, a photo was shared widely on social media featuring a man wearing a “Make Whites Great Again” hat and holding a blackberry between his thumb and index finger. The hand appeared to be making an OK sign, a gesture that has been used widely by white supremacists.
Facebook and Twitter users shared the image on Wednesday claiming it showed Chauvin. In many cases the photo was juxtaposed with a photo of Chauvin kneeling on Floyd’s neck.
The second debunked viral claim contended that the officer shown on video kneeling on Floyd’s neck was also prominently featured at a Trump rally. This, too, was untrue.
None of the four Minneapolis police officers fired following the death of George Floyd were present at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally in Minneapolis last October, despite rumors on social media, FOX 9 has confirmed.Photos began circulating Tuesday purporting to show Derek Chauvin, one of the officers who was fired, on stage at President Donald Trump’s campaign rally last October. Minneapolis Police Union President Lt. Bob Kroll, who spoke at the rally, said the officer in the photo is not Chauvin.
It’s horrifying to see George Floyd’s death politicized in this manner. Trying to tie Trump to the Minneapolis PD and the death of Floyd is the sort of thing we expect to see from the leftist activist media, so I do want to point out that, in this case at least, they do seem to have exercised some restraint. There are numerous legacy media articles, including those cited and quoted above, debunking both claims, and credit should go here where it’s due.
That said, these claims were spread widely on social media, and no amount of lamestream media debunking will undo the damage.
CLICK HERE FOR FULL VERSION OF THIS STORY