Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) attempted to own the libs early Tuesday with some words of wisdom from Winston Churchill, the British leader who led his nation to victory over the Nazis in World War II, about how fascists of the future will purportedly guise themselves as leftists.
Abbott tweeted a meme reading, “The fascists of the future will call themselves anti-fascists,” under the heading: “CHURCHILL ON THE LEFTWING.”
“Some insights are timeless,” he added.
There’s just one problem — Churchill never said that. A similar quote is attributed to a populist U.S. Senator from Louisiana who said it in books and magazines of the 1930 and 1940s, but Churchill isn’t documented as saying anything of the sort.
Despite many people replying to Abbott’s tweet to inform him the quote is fake, six hours later, his tweet remains up.
The governor of Texas tweeting fake quotes from Winston Churchill that discredit anti-fascists https://t.co/hhUweiRLXg
— Nathan McDermott (@natemcdermott) August 7, 2018
Abbott isn’t the first prominent Republican to use fabricated quotes in an attempt to counter progressives in recent months. During a Fox News interview last fall, Vice President Mike Pence deflected concerns about people with preexisting conditions losing their access to affordable insurance thanks to a Republican health care bill with an appeal to a fake Thomas Jefferson quote.
“Thomas Jefferson said, ‘Government that governs least, governs best,’” Pence said, using a quote that the Thomas Jefferson Foundation says Jefferson never actually uttered.
President Trump is even more brazen in his use of fake quotes. In May, Trump put words in the mouth of former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, then used the fake Clapper quote in an attempt to gin up anger toward the intelligence community. Earlier this year, twisted former FBI Director James Comey’s words in a misleading effort to make it seem like Comey lied under oath, and on separate occasions in February, Trump doctored quotes by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA).