NPR posted the Declaration of Independence and Trump supporters thought it was liberal propaganda

In a July 4 tradition that goes back 29 years, NPR has been reading the Declaration of Independence on air for its listeners. This year, they also decided to bang out the document on Twitter at 140 characters at a time. But the segmented chunks of text confused some die-hard Trump supporters who thought the publicly-funded network was making a Resistance-fueled dig at the President.

The DOI is fervently anti-authoritarian, so it’s understandable why some would think bits and pieces of it are statements against Trump. But that’s why the Trumpkin outrage is a perfect example of how little they understand the media: Would NPR tweet out a screed that directly attacks the President? No, that makes zero sense. But explain that to someone who calls CNN “fake news.”

Some thought the progressive “revolution” was nigh:

Many of the tweets have now been deleted, but Winnipeg Free Press reporter Melissa Martin was able to get a few screen shots:

A few more were captured by Upworthy’s Parker Molloy:

In a statement to The Washington Post, NPR spokesperson Isabel Lara said that posting the entire DOI to Twitter was a way for the tradition to reach more people.

“This year we mirrored that tradition on Twitter as a way to extend to social media what we do on the air,” Lara said. “The tweets were shared by thousands of people and generated a lively conversation.”

Featured image: Zimmytws/Dreamstime

Sky Palma

Before launching DeadState back in 2012, Sky Palma has been blogging about politics, social issues and religion for over a decade. He lives in Los Angeles and also enjoys Brazilian jiu jitsu, chess, music and art.

Categories