Did you hear about the Republican state representative in Michigan, Matt Maddock, who claimed on social media that he had photo evidence of “illegal invaders” arriving at Detroit Metro Airport?
One of the two photos Maddock posted showed an Allegiant Air plane. The other photo showed three buses.
Maddock wrote:
“Happening right now. Three busses just loaded up with illegal invaders at Detroit Metro. Anyone have any idea where they’re headed with their police escort?”
It turns out lots of people knew where they were heading:
Purdue University. The NCAA Tournament.
The illegal invaders were the basketball players from Gonzaga University.
What an idiot.
Maddock made his false claim in a month during which false and misleading claims about airplane flights involving migrants have proliferated on the political right in a desperate attempt to prop up claims that are blatantly, patently false.
Hundreds of social media users quickly disputed Maddock’s post on Wednesday, but Maddock refused to concede despite incontrovertible evidence of the truth.
He replied to one of the many people who pointed out that the plane and buses were likely for NCAA basketball teams:
“Sure kommie. Good talking point.”
Maddock continued to dig in on Thursday morning after it was confirmed that only one Allegiant Air plane flew into Detroit that day:
The one carrying the Gonzaga team. A fact confirmed by Allegiant Air, airport officials, and Gonzaga officials.
Still, he wrote a new post saying:
“We know this is happening. Since we can’t trust the #FakeNews to investigate, citizens will. The process of investigating these issues takes time.”
So not only was Maddock stupid enough to post about people for whom he knew nothing, but he’s also an impenetrable idiot who lacks the spine, courage, or decency to admit a mistake and apologize.
Like so many people in politics today who cannot deign to acknowledge an error, he’s a coward. A frightened little man. An intellectual, moral, and ethical disgrace.
We should not be surprised by any of this. During the pandemic, he repeatedly spread misinformation about COVID-19, claiming it was less deadly than the flu. He was also involved in the attempt to overturn the Presidential election by, among other things, writing to Vice President Mike Pence, urging him to reject the electoral ballots on January 6.
I wrote to Maddock yesterday, expressing my condolences for his stupidity and reminding him that mistakes are valuable.
I also informed him that apologies are only made by people of courage and character.
I tossed in one of my pride flags, too, because he’s also opposed to same-sex marriage, so he’s also a bigot.
A quality human being.
But this kind of misinformation is a real problem in America. Conservative and right-wing news outlets reported extensively last weekend about the Biden administration forbidding religious symbols be painting on the eggs used at the White House’s annual Easter egg roll, complaining that the President and his party are trying to remove religion from America.
They failed to mention that the rule forbidding religious symbols on eggs has existed since 1972, meaning it was in full effect during several Republican administrations as well.
This was not a Biden decision. It was a rule from the Nixon administration.
Either these conservative and right-wing media outlets didn’t know about the origin of the rule and refused to apologize once informed, or they were deliberately misleading in order to push a false agenda.
Not unlike the idiot Mike Maddock.
I suppose that when the facts don’t work for you, lies must suffice, but none of it is good for Americans who turn to elected leaders and the press for the truth, only to find liars, propagandists, and cowards spreading disinformation.
