Fact checker takes a hatchet to MAGA's latest 'self-evidently ludicrous' theory
Former President Donald Trump has been called out for hypocrisy by political spectators who note the defendant who cried "deadly force" Tuesday Night told the Supreme Court last month presidents should have free reign to use deadly force.
The brouhaha began with right-wing writer Julie Kelly's claim that recently revealed court records show the Federal Bureau of Investigation was authorized to use deadly force against Trump when they searched his home for classified documents in 2022, Philip Bump explained in a Washington Post column Wednesday morning.
"The deadly-force document shared by Kelly constrains how and when firearms might be used," Bump noted. "It is self-evidently ludicrous."
Bump's article on this swiftly fact-checked conspiracy theory includes a comment from the FBI confirming the Mar-a-Lago search warrant was strictly protocol.
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That did not stop Republicans such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani from declaring publicly that President Joe Biden's law enforcement agencies had planned to assassinate Trump.
On Wednesday morning, Greene doubled down on her claim in a tweet that includes an upside-down American flag, a symbol representing the former president's false claim the 2020 election was fraudulent.
"I posted this on the day the FBI raided Mar-a-Lago after Merrick Garland ordered it and gave the green light to kill anyone that stood in the way," Greene wrote. "Democrats declared war on us and weaponized the full power of the justice system the minute they took power."
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Greene's message was quickly flooded with contemptuous responses, one of which provided telling context.
"Trump is arguing in the Supreme Court that presidents should be allowed to assassinate their political opponents," replied X user @SundaeDivine. "So I don't know why you're undercutting him."
The X user was referencing a court battle that unfolded in the U.S. Supreme Court on April 25, when Trump's attorneys argued Trump could not be prosecuted on election interference charges because his actions leading up to the U.S. Capitol riots on Jan. 6, 2021, were protected by his since-relinquished office.
At the time, Trump's attorney John Sauer suggested presidential immunity allows U.S. presidents to kill political rivals.
This conflict of claims was not lost upon the world of social media Wednesday morning.
"These same idiots are saying Trump has such powers in his SCOTUS immunity argument," wrote X user @GOPMongos.
"While the right pretends outrage over FBI agents being authorized deadly force which they didn’t exercise, Trump is currently arguing to SCOTUS that as president he could have his political rival assassinated and he’d have immunity," added X user Francis Wegner.
"These are not serious people."