Trump’s unfounded tweet stoking fears about Muslim “prayer rugs,” explained

[CaptQuint]

President Donald Trump on Friday posted an extremely dubious tweet alleging people from Muslim-majority countries are crossing the border with bad intentions, and leaving prayer rugs behind.

Citing a report that hinged on one anonymous source, Trump tweeted: “Border rancher: ‘We’ve found prayer rugs out here. It’s unreal.’ Washington Examiner.”

“People coming across the Southern Border from many countries, some of which would be a big surprise,” he added.

That was indeed the headline of a Washington Examiner article published on Wednesday, but the story itself presents no evidence for its central claim beyond one anonymous account — and even if it were true, prayer rugs themselves pose no threat to national security.

It’s clear Trump was using the story to stoke fears about Muslims and shore up support for his proposed wall along the southern border, something he has said he is proud to shut down the government over. The partial shutdown began on December 22, and Trump hasn’t budged from the $5.7 billion for the wall he is demanding.

The flimsy basis of the Examiner’s story
The Washington Examiner’s piece is centered on a single, anonymous rancher who presents no evidence for the claim that prayer rugs are being found along the border.

“There’s a lot of people coming in not just from Mexico,” the woman is quoted as saying in the piece. “People, the general public, just don’t get the terrorist threats of that. That’s what’s really scary. You don’t know what’s coming across. We’ve found prayer rugs out here. It’s unreal. It’s not just Mexican nationals that are coming across.”

If prayer rugs were indeed found, you might expect the article to include a photo of one of them. But it doesn’t. Instead, the rancher — who admits in a video accompanying the piece that she’s never seen “Middle Easterners” crossing the border — is photographed holding a bottle.



The Washington Examiner article the president is quoting is very bad. The “prayer rugs” claim was made by a single rancher who would not allow her name used and who apparently provided the journalist no evidence.


Left unexplained by the article is why Muslims who presumably traveled through Mexico to cross the border would carry their prayer rugs with them for hundreds or thousands of miles, just to leave them behind in Texas.

There’s little evidence would-be terrorists are trying to enter the country through the southern border
Data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) indicates that people from Muslim-majority countries are apprehended crossing the southern border between ports of entry at vanishingly small rates.

In 2017, for instance, six Syrians, 10 Jordanians, and 14 Saudis were apprehended trying to cross the border — compared to 16,000 Guatemalans.

https://www.vox.com/2019/1/18/18188476/ ... eet-border

[CaptQuint]

And of course, just because a person is from the Middle East or a Muslim who uses a prayer rug does not mean that they’re a terrorist.

A 2017 State Department report found that there is “no credible evidence terrorist groups sent operatives via Mexico into the United States.” A recent Cato Institute study found that there were zero cases of people being injured or killed on US soil by people who entered the country illegally from 1975 through the end of 2017.

Conservatives have a long history of making unfounded claims about prayer rugs
Conservatives have a storied history of using dubious stories about prayer rugs to stoke fears about Muslims entering the country through the southern border.

In July 2014, Breitbart published a piece with the screaming headline, “MUSLIM PRAYER RUG FOUND ON ARIZONA BORDER BY INDEPENDENT AMERICAN SECURITY CONTRACTORS.” The piece was accompanied with a photo of the purported “prayer rug.” But there was just one problem — close examination revealed that the object in question was in fact an Adidas soccer jersey.

At the 2014 Values Voters Summit a couple months later, then-Texas Lieutenant Governor David Dewhurst claimed that “prayer rugs have recently been found on the Texas side of the border in the brush.” But Dewhurst presented no evidence for his claim, which Politifact ultimately rated “Pants on Fire.”

Desperate times, desperate tweets
Last month, Trump decided to shut down the government instead of supporting bipartisan legislation that would’ve kept it open, but not funded his border wall.

Nearly a month later, polling indicates that a majority of Americans don’t like the shutdown and are blaming Trump for it. Separate polling indicates that Trump’s wall remains as unpopular as ever, despite the president’s efforts to convince people that the situation along the border is a crisis.

So far, Trump has shown little willingness to negotiate and has been trying to tweet his way out of it. Tweets like the prayer rug one suggest that Trump — who has a long history of making baseless, fear-mongering claims about Muslims — is resorting to increasingly desperate measures.

[Wut]

The Hamburdler won't let the truth get in the way of a good fear mongering, his base loves to get all ascared of them people.

[AnalHamster]

It is founded in as much truth as the buzzfeed piece

So take the bet.

[CaptQuint]

Neither Trump Nor Any of His Representatives Have Actually Denied Yet That He Told Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress

[Reservoir Dog]

Neither Trump Nor Any of His Representatives Have Actually Denied Yet That He Told Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress

They're still trying to figure out how to make it Obama or Hillary's fault.

[CaptQuint]

Neither Trump Nor Any of His Representatives Have Actually Denied Yet That He Told Michael Cohen to Lie to Congress

They're still trying to figure out how to make it Obama or Hillary's fault.

Hillary Clinton in a Micheal Cohen mask lied

[AnalHamster]

There was a good chance that I wouldn't have won, in which case I would have gotten back into the business, and why should I lose lots of opportunities?

Yeah, no chance he kept chasing opportunities through a campaign he expected to lose, then lied about it

[Burn1dwn]

In 2017, for instance, six Syrians, 10 Jordanians, and 14 Saudis were apprehended trying to cross the border — compared to 16,000 Guatemalans.

Yeah but think about it. It only takes one Middle Easterner to accomplish a terrorist activity but it takes 100s of Guatemalans to create a caravan. So you know, statistics and stuff. Build the damn wall.

[CaptQuint]

No tell him thousands of Middle Easterners fly into our country everyday

[Burn1dwn]

Ok I'll give you that but I heard those caravans were hard to stop without walls because Nancy Pelosi has a dog run on her vacation rental property. Build the damn wall.

[CaptQuint]

Ok I'll give you that but I heard those caravans were hard to stop without walls because Nancy Pelosi has a dog run on her vacation rental property. Build the damn wall.

That dog run is really a CIA black site where the torture......... I mean interrogate muzzies, Nancy keeps us safe

[Burn1dwn]

Seriously. This shit is beyond retarded now. I live closer to the Mexican border than anyone here except maybe B-Tender and it never crosses my mind except when Trump tweets about it.

Only peep I've heard about border or caravans from all my family and friends down in San Diego, was a friend just complaining that it is affecting his Mexican nannies (legal Work Visa btw) travel time therefore affecting his free time.

Do we want better protection at the borders? Of course everyone does. But to pretend like there is some imminent danger or gasp "mushroom cloud scenario" that is causing all this nonsense is complete and utter bullshit.

[CaptQuint]

Rep. Will Hurd (R-Texas), whose district shares 820 miles of the U.S. border with Mexico, told Rolling Stone that the border crisis Trump speaks of is a "myth," and that his wall is the "most expensive and least effective way to do border security."

Representative Hurd is the only republican that represents a border district, and even he knows that "The Wall" is ridiculous.

[Burn1dwn]

I think he's spot on.

[Burn1dwn]

No tell him thousands of Middle Easterners fly into our country everyday

Thats right, because people entering this nation legally is exactly the same as those who break in.

When you frame the wall as stopping possible terrorist attacks it is.

[AnalHamster]

No tell him thousands of Middle Easterners fly into our country everyday

Thats right, because people entering this nation legally is exactly the same as those who break in.

When you frame the wall as stopping possible terrorist attacks it is.

Do you think that a wall would slow the flow of illegals coming into this country?

To a degree, but not a particularly high degree. People willing to walk hundreds of miles aren't going to give up in the face of a barrier they can go over, under or through. Or in the case of the caravans presenting themselves at legal ports of entry for legal entry. The 653 miles of barrier approved in '06 still isn't complete too so even if trump did get his way we wouldn't know how effective it was for a couple of decades. It's fortunate that the emergency is imaginary, because that's no solution to an emergency.

[DandyDon]

No tell him thousands of Middle Easterners fly into our country everyday

Thats right, because people entering this nation legally is exactly the same as those who break in.

When you frame the wall as stopping possible terrorist attacks it is.

Do you think that a wall would slow the flow of illegals coming into this country?

Nope.

Largest group of asylum seekers yet tunnels under border wall

The largest single group of asylum seekers ever to cross into the US tunneled beneath the border wall near San Luis, Arizona, earlier this week before turning themselves in to the feds, a new report said Friday.

Smugglers dug seven holes a few feet long under the steel border fence there, and hundreds scrambled under the wall, according to Customs and Border Protection, ABC News reported.

The agency said 179 of the record 376 people who crossed under the fence were kids, including more than 30 who were unaccompanied.

https://nypost.com/2019/01/18/largest-g ... rder-wall/

[AnalHamster]

To a degree, but not a particularly high degree

Then why do all these countries erect barriers if theyre so ineffective?

Why has trump shut down the US government over an ineffective barrier that wouldn't be finished for 20 years? It got him votes. People are stoopid.

[CaptQuint]

How many of these other barriers are thousands of miles long?

[AnalHamster]

How many of these other barriers are thousands of miles long?

Just the great wall of china. Which didn't work.

[CaptQuint]

How many of these other barriers are thousands of miles long?

Just the great wall of china. Which didn't work.

only took 2,000 years as well

[DandyDon]

How many of these other barriers are thousands of miles long?

Just the great wall of china. Which didn't work.

Just watch The Great Wall, and according to D2S, MS13 are much worse than those monsters.

[DandyDon]

No tell him thousands of Middle Easterners fly into our country everyday

Thats right, because people entering this nation legally is exactly the same as those who break in.

When you frame the wall as stopping possible terrorist attacks it is.

Do you think that a wall would slow the flow of illegals coming into this country?

Nope.

Largest group of asylum seekers yet tunnels under border wall

The largest single group of asylum seekers ever to cross into the US tunneled beneath the border wall near San Luis, Arizona, earlier this week before turning themselves in to the feds, a new report said Friday.

Smugglers dug seven holes a few feet long under the steel border fence there, and hundreds scrambled under the wall, according to Customs and Border Protection, ABC News reported.

The agency said 179 of the record 376 people who crossed under the fence were kids, including more than 30 who were unaccompanied.

https://nypost.com/2019/01/18/largest-g ... rder-wall/

So they needed extraordinary measures to get past the fence. Thanks for proving my point

What, a fucking shovel? Are you that damn daft on this issue?

[CaptQuint]

Smugglers dug seven holes a few feet long under the steel border


Extraordinary measures