Presidential aide Kellyanne Conway snuck an “alternative fact” by Chris Matthews, but the Internet didn’t miss it.
In an interview with MSNBC’s Matthews, Conway justified President Donald Trump’s ban on immigration from seven Muslim-majority nations by citing the case of two Iraqis who came to the United States, became radicalized and were “the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.”
But unless you’re talking about the Falcons’ 77-10 loss to Ohio State last year, “the Bowling Green Massacre” is not a thing.
Conway may have meant Mohanad Shareed Hamadi and Waad Ramadan, two Iraqi citizens living in Bowling Green, Kentucky, who were arrested in 2011 and eventually sentenced to federal prison for attempting to send weapons and money to al-Qaeda in Iraq for the purpose of killing U.S. soldiers, according to a statement from the Justice Department. Both admitted to having participated in attacks on Americans in Iraq, but not in the United States.
In other words, the American immigration and law enforcement system worked as designed in this case.
“Bowling Green Massacre” became a trending topic on Twitter almost immediately.
For every RT this tweet gets I will personally donate one imaginary dollar to the victims of the Bowling Green Massacre.
— Tony Posnanski (@tonyposnanski) February 3, 2017
RT if you died in the Bowling Green Massacre.
— Alex Amadeo ???????????????? (@Irelay) February 3, 2017
One still shudders to think how bad the Bowling Green massacre would’ve been if not for the heroic intervention of Fred Douglass.
— Alec MacGillis (@AlecMacGillis) February 3, 2017
*takes a long drag off cigarette*
ay, lads. i remember the bowling green massacre as if it were just made up today.
— Alex Alvarez (@soalexgoes) February 3, 2017
Only two weeks into the Donald Trump’s presidency, administration officials have a well-documented history of citing what Conway calls “alternative facts” to justify their policies and positions.
