Blue-check Robert Caruso is getting called out for this viral tweet claiming that Sen. Josh Hawley — when he was 15-years-old — “was an early defender of the Oklahoma City bombing, and characterized it as a legitimate war of ideas btwn USG & militias”:
Incredible read. Josh Hawley was an early defender of the Oklahoma City bombing, and characterized it as a legitimate war of ideas btwn USG & militias https://t.co/AFqtkLF3HH
— Robert Caruso (@robertcaruso) January 24, 2021
But he said no such thing:
That’s.. not what this article says at all.
— Matt Whitlock (@mattdizwhitlock) January 24, 2021
Read it for yourself, via the Kansas City Star:
Josh Hawley was a precocious 15-year-old in 1995, writing a regular column for his hometown paper, The Lexington News, when he was still in high school.
He used the early platform to opine on politics, culture and those he believed had been unfairly maligned by the media — among them anti-government militias and Los Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman.
Hawley warned against depicting all militia members as domestic terrorists after the Oklahoma City bombing, which killed 168 people, including 19 children. Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, who carried out the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, had ties to the Michigan Militia.
“Many of the people populating these movements are not radical, right-wing, pro-assault weapons freaks as they were originally stereotyped,” Hawley wrote two months after the bombing.
As of the writing of this post, we’re at 5000 retweets — and counting:
Not remotely what this article says, and yet Robert here has 2500 retweets https://t.co/I2OMoK2E9S
— Josh Barro (@jbarro) January 24, 2021
The Federalist Ben Domenech adds, “This is an utter lie” and the “article says nothing of the kind”:
This is an utter lie. The article says nothing of the kind. https://t.co/NqpWjZvUzt
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) January 24, 2021
You know, if you have issues with Sen. Hawley there’s no need to just make up stuff:
There’s no need to invent slanderous lies about Hawley to criticize his actions over the past month.
— Jeff B., who on earth is this guy?? (@EsotericCD) January 24, 2021
And you won’t find the phrase, “legitimate war of ideas” either:
Well, he was 15 at the time. And i couldn’t find that phrase about “legitimate war of ideas” in the piece. Nonetheless concerning because he *did* legitimize the militias by blaming… what else… federal “overreach”. https://t.co/44yOZZIGmj
— Stephan Lewandowsky (@STWorg) January 24, 2021
He really should delete this but we expect he won’t:
2,300 retweets for a tweet that wildly mischaracterizes Hawley’s position. The article says that he “warned against depicting all militia members as domestic terrorists.” https://t.co/8XQWZWJGGe
— Timothy B. Lee (@binarybits) January 24, 2021
***
