Ted Cruz Falls For Fake News, Then Blames The Real Media For Calling Him Out
Sen. Ted Cruz’s latest attempt at owning those danged libs failed miserably on Thursday when the Texas Republican fell for a tweet of a nonexistent news story supposedly published in The Atlantic.
Cruz tweeted a link to what looked like an Atlantic article headlined “The Evolution of White Supremacy” with this subhead: “In Dearborn Michigan, Muslim parents who oppose teaching pornography to children become the new face of the far right.”
Later, after many people pointed out that there was no such Atlantic article, Cruz deleted his tweet.
The story that was the supposed subject of the tweet does have a basis in reality. A group of Muslim parents recently did object to LGBTQ books being available to students, according to the Detroit Free Press.
However, the Atlantic never wrote about the controversy, and the author credited with writing the nonexistent article, Abby Ohlheiser, hasn’t worked for the magazine since 2014, according to WGHP-TV.
Naturally, Twitter users fact-checked Cruz’ post and found it fact-free.
So, someone created a fake story, slapped @abbyohlheiser's byline on it even though they haven't worked at The Atlantic since 2014, which has led to a bombardment of harassment, and now a U.S. Senator is sharing said fake article. pic.twitter.com/sKTS26ENd1
— Parker Molloy (@ParkerMolloy) October 14, 2022
The image posted by Cruz is fake, not a real Atlantic article. (So: parody the senator is citing as evidence the left is beyond parody.) pic.twitter.com/JdCO1USjz5
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) October 14, 2022
Some people called out the senator for deleting his tweet of the fake article without publicly admitting his mistake.
Ted Cruz still has not acknowledged that he posted a doctored headline after deleting it. https://t.co/u8txK06bkn
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) October 14, 2022
When Cruz finally fessed up, he blamed a familiar scapegoat: the media.
“Didn’t know it was fake,” he wrote. “You guys are so insane, it could easily have been real.”
Didn’t know it was fake. You guys are so insane, it could easily have been real.
But it wasn’t. And so I deleted the tweet as soon as I found out. https://t.co/5vD8OYJgDr— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 14, 2022
Some people decided Cruz needed to be reminded of other times he spread misinformation in his unending efforts to, yes, own those libs:
“It’s your fault I’m an idiot”
— Santiago Mayer (@santiagomayer_) October 14, 2022
Cruz's growing paper trail of Twitter misinformation
Afghanistan helicopter: https://t.co/rVDKcwFUho
Mixing up Washington state w/ W. Australia: https://t.co/Or117mCFw7
Nat Guard on Martha's Vineyard https://t.co/z92YMXPkrV
Ottawa protester "trampled" https://t.co/bcabcjhBv0https://t.co/nlJtNIOkwM— Aaron Blake (@AaronBlake) October 14, 2022
Well, it's a good thing you don't have a job where having a critical eye toward sharing information and whether something is real or fake could have an outsize impact on a group or in this case an individual if you aren't careful. Take care, U.S. Senator Cruz.
— Steve Mullis (@stevemullis) October 14, 2022
Meanwhile, the journalist Ohlheiser said having their name falsely attached to a fake news story made for a challenging day.
It's for sure good and normal to wake up to dms calling you a groomer because some maga shitposter photoshopped your byline onto a fake article for a publication you haven't worked for in a decade
— Abby Ohlheiser (@abbyohlheiser) October 13, 2022
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.