When neverTrump Republicans were calling Donald Trump a fake during the primary election and saying he was changing his views so he would win Republicans over, I took to playing old interviews with him. Interviews from the 1980’s in which he sounds just like he sounds now. Back in the days when the GOP was routinely courting him to be their candidate. Back in days when the general public nearly universally agreed with what he was saying regardless of their political affiliation. I’ve always found it so interesting to see how well received he was back then saying the same things he says now. Today, however, he is demonized for saying those things.
I’m frankly surprised (though not really) that in the era of #MeToo we have CNN’s Jim Acosta saying he didn’t lay a hand on a White House staffer during a tense exchange with President Trump this week. Even more unsettling is that so many verified ‘journalist’s’ social media accounts are saying he never laid a hand on her.
Well this is not complicated. @PressSec has patently misrepresented what happened here. White House aide aggressively tries to take the mic from @Acosta and he never lays a hand on her. The truth still matters. https://t.co/MsWwlTGTd2
For Barbaro’s claim to be evaluated we need two things.
First, we need the dictionary definition of ‘palm.’
palm noun (2)
1 : the somewhat concave part of the human hand (emphasis mine) between the bases of the fingers and the wrist or the corresponding part of the forefoot of a lower mammal
So, according to the English language and basic biology, the palm is a part of the human hand. I know this was confusing for some of you. I’m glad to have cleared that up. After all, biology is not biology anymore.
Second, we need the video of the incident. The incident happens at 1:30 of the video.
I shared the direct video from C-SPAN’s own YouTube channel because there’s a conspiracy theory that this video is doctored, or that a third party has made the video more ‘violent’ than it actually was. C-SPAN has not altered any video of the event that I’m aware of. So their video is not in dispute.
Let’s look at Jim Acosta’s Judo chop (Karate chop, knife hand strike, hurray pop culture reference) to the woman’s arm in a loop:
You can clearly see Acosta Judo chop her arm with his palm. We’ve already established that the palm is a part of the human hand. Therefore, Acosta laid a hand on this woman and used some force in doing so. Something the video clearly shows. It’s undeniable. Yet, is being shamefully denied by members of the media. One might call that denial FAKE NEWS!
Barbaro actually shared a link with the video that proved his claim wrong for crying out loud.
Remember when Trump aide Corey Lewindowski was charged with ‘unwanted touching’ for grabbing reporter Michelle Fields? Remember how she lied about what happened and the media crucified him? She wasn’t injured either and he used similar force to Acosta.
Wouldn’t this qualify for ‘unwanted touching?’
Shouldn’t the media come down on Acosta like they did Lewindowski? Acosta violated the rules, refused to give up the microphone, rebuffed several passive attempts she made to get the microphone back, and finally, Judo chopped her arm when she attempted to forcefully get the mic from someone refusing to obey the rules. She was just doing her job and he, in fact, laid a hand on her.
“The FBI, under the guidance of then-director James Comey, used more than one spy in its investigation into former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page, the government disclosed in a court filing.”
