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WaPo Issues ‘Greatest Correction’ in Journalism History on ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ Story After Trump Jr. Prompting – Opinion

By Pluralist / October 25, 2021

Over the weekend, we reported on how the Washington Post had become so triggered over the “Let’s go, Brandon” chants that have become popular over the last several weeks as a substitute for the chant “F*** Joe Biden” that they decided to write a story complaining over how “Biden’s critics [were hurling] increasingly vulgar taunts” at the president.

Quick recap: They had the nerve to declare that Biden was worse in America’s history for vulgar insults. It seems they conveniently forgot how viciously former President Trump had been routinely attacked with crude language and even worse imagery.

For politicians who have reached the White House, insults and jeers are not new. Trump and former presidents George W. Bush, and Barack Obama were both heckled during protests at their events and along their motorcade route. At one 2011 fundraiser in Los Angeles, a heckler called Obama the Antichrist; “F— Trump” graffiti adorned some walls in Washington.

But the anti-Biden protests are now on an entirely different level.

They blamed Trump, naturally. They didn’t just blame Trump Jr., but all of them. They also took aim at Donald Trump Jr., reporting in an early version of the story that the “Let’s go, Brandon” chant was uttered during a September event Trump Jr. spoke at:

The former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., has repeatedly promoted the meme, and the original chant, on his social media feeds. At a speech in Georgia, he took the stage after the crowd had been chanting “USA! USA!” and roared, “There’s a couple other chants I’ve been hearing going around. Have you heard the other one that’s been going around?” The crowd took the cue and broke into cries of “Let’s go Brandon.”

Arthur Schwartz called the WaPo out, noting that the “Let’s go, Brandon” chant didn’t start until early October courtesy of a NASCAR reporter, pointing out there was no way that it was said during that Trump Jr.-featured event. Accordingly, Trump Jr. saw the tweet and demanded a “retraction and a correction”:

Well, he got one, complete with the mention of the fact that it wasn’t actually “Let’s go, Brandon” that was chanted at that Georgia event. If you guessed the actual chant was “F*** Joe Biden,” you win the prize:

Not sure if it’s the greatest, but it definitely ranks in the top 10 best media corrections of all time, in my opinion.

Here’s how that part of the story reads now:

The former president’s son, Donald Trump Jr., has repeatedly promoted the meme, and the original chant, on his social media feeds. At a speech in Georgia in September, he took the stage after the crowd had been chanting “USA! USA!”

“There’s a couple other chants I’ve been hearing going around,” Trump Jr. said. “Have you heard the other one that’s been going around?” The crowd took the cue and broke into cries of “F— Joe Biden!”

Still not mentioned in the piece: whether or not Joe Biden has been subjected to the below type of vile vitriol, or the “assassination chic” former President George W. Bush was subjected to during his 8 years in office:

I can’t possibly imagine why a paper whose masthead reads “Democracy dies in Darkness” would want to leave out such relevant information (including how radicals on the left have been inspired to act out in such ways by Democrats like Rep. Maxine Waters) from a piece on the out-of-bounds harassment presidents have faced over the years, can you?

Similar: The WaPo Should Be Ashamed Over What They Left out of ‘Report’ on Alleged Loudoun County Sexual Assaults

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