Public Policy Polling is Just Openly Trolling Trump Supporters Now
Hey, remember the Bowling Green Massacre?
No?
That’s because it’s not a real thing. Which didn’t stop Kellyanne Conway, terrifying head ghoul of the Trump communication armada, from referencing it at least three times. The most famous of the mentions came on MSNBC, in this exchange with Chris Matthews:
CONWAY: It’s the seven countries that were previously identified by President Obama as being high risk as being states that either harbor, train or export — and/or export terrorism. These are nations very narrowly proscribed and also temporary.
MATTHEWS: Sure.
CONWAY: I bet there was very little coverage — I bet — I bet it’s brand-new information to people that President Obama had a six-month ban on the Iraqi refugee program after two Iraqis came here to this country were radicalized and they were the masterminds behind the Bowling Green massacre.
MATTHEWS: Let’s …
CONWAY: (INAUDIBLE) don’t know that because it didn’t get covered.
So, there was no Bowling Green Massacre. There were two Iraqi dudes who lived in Bowling Green, KY, that tried and failed to sell weapons to Al-Qaeda in 2011, and the media covered it, and that’s all. It’s hard to know whether Conway was purposefully spreading weird propaganda in service of a larger disinformation campaign, or if she’s just stupid and misinformed.
It is not hard, however, to solve that same riddle about a majority of Trump supporters who were recently polled by Public Policy Polling—they are stupid and misinformed. In a glorious act of trolling, PPP asked this question of 712 registered voters:
Do you agree or disagree with the following statement: ‘the Bowling Green massacre shows why we need Donald Trump’s executive order on immigration?’
The good news is that a solid 77 percent of all voters (and 93 percent of Democrats) either disagreed with this notion or were unsure—which is totally fair, since it’s not a real thing.
The bad news? You guessed it: 51 percent of Trump supporters agreed that the Bowling Green Massacre justifies his immigration policies.
That’s…alarming. Say it with me:
We. Are. All. Going. To. Die.