Republican Texas Governor Greg Abbott posted a fake Winston Churchill quote on Tuesday morning, and the backlash was almost immediate.
Abbott quietly deleted the error, but while tweets can be deleted, screenshots are forever. Reporter for the Texas Tribune, Patrick Svitek, captured the moment and shared it with his followers.
And @GregAbbott_TX’s Churchill tweet is gone. Screenshot from earlier: pic.twitter.com/Mho4t3UF7c
— Patrick Svitek (@PatrickSvitek) August 7, 2018
Perhaps the most ironic part? The original image is clearly watermarked by the popular humor website, 9GAG, which should’ve been a clear tip that something was off.
The incident spread across the internet as Twitter users noted how easy it is to search the quote and find it was fake on Google. Others couldn’t help put poke fun at the Governor’s error.
Anyone going to ask @GregAbbott_TX why he decided not to fact check himself again?
Some insights are just too darn obvious these days: Google it
Guess we shouldn’t be surprised, huh? #JadeHelm #AbbottFails pic.twitter.com/tStImF9EJJ
— Lupe Valdez (@LupeValdez) August 7, 2018
Greg Abbott and Sid Miller are so lazy that they can’t take 5 seconds to google the accuracy of their stupid memes. #VoteThemOut pic.twitter.com/FvLUyYwAmv
— Taxpayer-Funded Library Unicorn (@PinkFulfyUnicon) August 7, 2018
Wow, unbelievable how smart Winston Churchill (RIP) was. Please retweet @GregAbbott_TX pic.twitter.com/HR5UBSi3Tc
— hussein kesvani (@HKesvani) August 7, 2018
Mashable speculated that Abbott’s tweet was a comment on the current debate between fascists and anti-fascists as both sides claim the other is more violent. The quote Abbott used is actually attributed to Huey Long, a senator in Louisiana.
In a press conference reported on by Dallas News, Abbot stood by the tweet. “What I tweeted was a sentiment that I had. It was irrelevant to me who may or may not have said that in the past. I didn’t want to be accused of plagiarism for saying it. If no one else said it, attribute the quote to me because it’s what I believe in,” said Abbott.