"Donald Trump claims that "thousands" of people in New Jersey were "cheering" amid the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on US soil.
In an interview on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday, Trump doubled down on his assertion that he saw people in New Jersey — where the real-estate mogul claims there are "large Arab populations" — cheering as the World Trade Center came down.
"There were people that were cheering on the other side of New Jersey, where you have large Arab populations. They were cheering as the World Trade Center came down," Trump said on Sunday. "I know it might be not politically correct for you to talk about it, but there were people cheering as that building came down — as those buildings came down. And that tells you something. It was well-covered at the time."
Trump first made the claim at a Birmingham, Alabama, rally on Saturday.
"I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down, and I watched in Jersey City, New Jersey, where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down,” he said.
As The New York Times reported, it's unclear to what Trump was referring. Images were broadcast of cheering in Middle Eastern countries, but local officials had to dispute a prevalent internet rumor that Muslims were cheering in Paterson, New Jersey." [Source]
So how can a leading candidate to be the president of these divided state of America just tell a bold face lie on national television and think that he can get away with it?
Because he is Donald Trump, and Americans, in this political season, do not care about the truth. Just look at some of the whoppers that the other leading republican candidate for president has told.
And yes, what Trump said was a lie. And the sad thing is he knew it was a lie.
This is what fact checkers, Politifact, had to say said about Trump's claim:
"Trump said he "watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering" as the World Trade Center collapsed.
This defies basic logic. If thousands and thousands of people were celebrating the 9/11 attacks on American soil, many people beyond Trump would remember it. And in the 21st century, there would be video or visual evidence.
Instead, all we found were a couple of news articles that described rumors of celebrations that were either debunked or unproven.Trump’s recollection of events in New Jersey in the hours after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks flies in the face of all the evidence we could find. We rate this statement Pants on Fire." [Source]
His pants might be on fire, but his supporters are right by his side to put it out.
Pic from npr.org.
