A liberal pollster has refused to delete a false tweet about President Trump's Easter mass attendance that went viral because he says it "wasn't factually inaccurate" when it was posted.
On Easter Sunday, Matt McDermott of Whitman Insight Strategies tweeted out a collage of photos of former President Obama and his family attending church, writing, "The Obama's spent every Easter attending church service. Trump hasn't attended church once since his inauguration. Where's the GOP outrage?"
The Obama's spent every Easter attending church service. Trump hasn't attended church once since his inauguration. Where's the GOP outrage? pic.twitter.com/5zOBO616LM
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) April 16, 2017
No truer hypocrites than those who spent 8 years calling Obama a Muslim, now seemingly unconcerned that their president is not religious.
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) April 16, 2017
As of Monday morning, it has been retweeted nearly 32,000 times and favorited more than 63,000 times.
However, the message is incorrect. Trump and his family attended Easter services at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach, Florida.
First Family back at Mar-a-Lago for brunch after Easter Services at Bethesda-by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Palm Beach.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) April 16, 2017
Presidential motorcade departing Bethesda-by-the-Sea church earlier today where First Family attended Easter Services.. pic.twitter.com/D6PwEZH2Eq
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) April 16, 2017
20k retweets for a completely false premise. Happy Easter everyone! pic.twitter.com/5WsaOe6EoH
— Alex Griswold (@HashtagGriswold) April 16, 2017
CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski later noted McDermott's inaccuracy, leading to a back-and-forth between the two.
Folks keep RTing this but it's wrong. Trump went to services in Palm Beach. https://t.co/TMoojTsBks
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) April 16, 2017
McDermott said the "hypocrisy still stands."
@KFILE Eh, the hypocrisy still stands: we had people who spent 8 years calling the president a Muslim, now holding up Trump as "a true Christian."
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) April 16, 2017
When Kaczynski continued to point out the tweet was wrong, McDermott said it was correct when he put it up and blamed the White House for not putting Trump's church attendance on his official schedule.
@mattmfm Okay, but the tweet is factually inaccurate. Shouldn't you delete it so people aren't given misinformation?
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) April 16, 2017
@KFILE It wasn't factually inaccurate when it was posted, nor (unless I totally missed it) was it on WH schedule this AM where it should've been!
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) April 16, 2017
@mattmfm @KFILE I'm with Andrew here; if it's an incorrect tweet that's spreading bc of error, deleting is appropriate. Mistakes happen!
— Taniel (@Taniel) April 16, 2017
@Taniel @mattmfm Yeah I get that it's a mistake and was accurate at the time, but right now it's mega viral and spreading misinformation.
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) April 16, 2017
@KFILE @mattmfm & comparison is to Obama specifically attending Easter service, so it being accurate as of 8am today doesn't seem relevant.
— Taniel (@Taniel) April 16, 2017
Nevertheless, McDermott persisted.
@Taniel @KFILE It is in that this WH has chronically chosen shadows for transparency. There's no reason for things like this not to be on public schedule.
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) April 16, 2017
@mattmfm @Taniel Right but how many of those RTs have come since 10:30 when Trump went services? Seems irresponsible to keep letting it go viral now.
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) April 17, 2017
I'm not wrong because Trump should have personally told me he was going to church. Fly tweet, fly... https://t.co/7Pq7T1Fhq0
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) April 17, 2017
@redsteeze Nah, actually because right propagated an innuendo campaign against president for 8 years only to now not care about religion. But carry on.
— Matt McDermott (@mattmfm) April 17, 2017
As of Monday morning, the tweet remains up.