Viral Meme Strips Context from Lawmakers’ Quotes on Protests
Quick Take
A viral meme presents quotes from some Democratic lawmakers to misleadingly suggest they were advocating violence. They were supporting protests over various issues.
Full Story
Days after a mob of President Donald Trump’s supporters stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, a meme featuring some out-of-context quotes from Democratic lawmakers started spreading widely on social media.
The meme featured four quotes paired with pictures of four lawmakers looking angry.
One version includes text that says, “DEMOCRATS NOT IMPEACHED FOR INCITING VIOLENCE.” Others were shared with text such as, “NEVER FORGET: Democrats have been stoking public unrest and violence for years!”
While it’s true that the lawmakers made the statements, the quotes are presented without any information about when they were made, the topics they addressed or the actions that followed.
With context stripped away for some of those quotes and suggestive text added, the meme has garnered thousands of comments expressing outrage.
“These are wicked vile soulless monsters. They must pay for their hateful crimes,” said one Facebook user.
“And these people should be in prison for inciting to harm others,” said another.
The meme surfaced at a time when the Democratic-controlled House was preparing to impeach Trump for “inciting violence against the Government of the United States” at a rally on Jan. 6 — the day Congress met to verify Joe Biden as the winner of the 2020 presidential election. Biden won both the Electoral College and the popular vote in an election federal, state and “the most secure in American history.” Then-Attorney General William Barr there were no signs of fraud on a scale that would have changed the results.
