Trump campaign has repeatedly used its "war room" Twitter account to spread lies about Joe Biden by taking quotes from the Democratic presidential nominee and other Democrats out of context. This time, Team Trump snipped video of the former vice president quoting the pope in a bid to give a misleading impression.
The Trump campaign has a reputation for promoting misinformation through its "war room" Twitter account. It lived up to its character on Tuesday when Biden, who is churchgoing Catholic, quoted from an encyclical Pope Francis, published in Oct. An encyclical alludes to a papal letter sent to all bishops of the Roman Catholic Church.
In that text, the Pope criticized anti-immigrant populism and aggressive nationalism, calling for a better kind of politics that revolve around love. Furthermore, the Pope even urged politicians to ask themselves some questions that he claimed would enable them to serve the public interest rather than their own selfish reasons.
The Trump campaign 'war zone" account made seven-second footage of Biden asking why he was doing this and what his real aim was. This shortened clip was accompanied by a caption that comprised only the truncated quote, which it shared with its 960,000 followers. The tweet was aimed at creating the impression that Biden was raising a question about his own candidacy.
This tweet was highly deceptive because the former veep was actually quoting Pope Francis when he raised these questions. Moreover, Biden immediately answered those questions.
In his speech, Biden spoke about the Pope warning Americans against the phony populism that appeal to the most selfish and the basest instincts. He goes on to say that politics is nobler as compared to posturing, media spin, and marketing.
These lead to a bleak cynicism, conflict, and division, he added. Referring to those who aspire to lead, Biden said the Pope suggested that anyone who wants to lead the United States should have answers to two questions including why are they doing this, and what is their real aim. The Democratic nominee then revealed his answers as someone seeking to lead the nation, saying he wants to unite America and heal it.
Biden noted that he has been saying this from the beginning, adding that it is badly necessary at the moment. The Trump campaign's attempt to ruin Biden's image is particularly noteworthy because it was a deception about the Pope's quote on the topic of making politics nobler.