By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Does lying about a problem to score political points serve the solution, Save Jerseyans?
On Saturday, the Donald held a campaign rally in Birmingham, Alabama, and during one of his patented rambling rants, he made an extraordinary claims about 9/11 and… the State of New Jersey.
“I watched when the World Trade Center came tumbling down,” Trump thundered from his podium. “And I watched in Jersey City, N.J., where thousands and thousands of people were cheering as that building was coming down. Thousands of people were cheering.”
It’s a claim he then repeated when challenged on Sunday’s “This Week With George Stephanopoulos” program:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU1pxsuUxgg&t=6m44s
“It was on television. I saw it,” Trump insisted. “It was well covered at the time, George. Now, I know they don’t like to talk about it, but it was well covered at the time. There were people over in New Jersey that were watching it, a heavy Arab population, that were cheering as the buildings came down. Not good.”
What’s really not good is Trump’s penchant for making shit up.
9/11 hijacker links to Jersey City and Paterson don’t equate to “thousands” cheering in the streets. In fact, Politifact conducted the research and couldn’t find a single well-sourced report of 9/11 celebrations while also making the very good point that “[i]f thousands and thousands of people were celebrating the 9/11 attacks on American soil, many people beyond Trump would remember it. And in the 21st century, there would be video or visual evidence.“
Trump naturally has none ’cause it doesn’t exist. He’s a master huckster who knows what his audience wants to hear and doesn’t care if facts need to be manipulated (or in this case invented from scratch) to make the sale. The Donald didn’t just embellish – he slandered New Jersey, which suffered terribly on 9/11, to win votes. To make matter worse, lying about domestic terror sympathizers only makes the folks we need to persuade about the very real dangers of real domestic terrorism all the less likely to believe us.
Is this the best we can do next fall, Save Jerseyans? Better yet, can we afford to do this poorly? Let’s hope not.
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Let’s talk to the many still active men & women of the JCPD who first hand saw Muslims in both JSQ & the Duncan Projects celebrating the attack on the WTC. Stop shilling for Clinton.
Most Arabs did cheer 9/11, but I doubt the media would dare broadcast it. I was in Israel at the time, and local towelheads were dancing on rooftops in joy.
it was on broadcast the next day or so later.
They were cheering in Paterson NJ.
Trumps whole campaign has been based on a lie (that the government does things better than the individual).
They thousands were cheering in Brooklyn …. Anyone who gets Jersey City mixed up with Brooklyn should not be President
I saw Muslims cheering on the news afterwards.
I’ll still vote for him if he wins nomination.
I saw the towers crumble while picking up my son at Golden Door Charter School. Later that day(?) I also personally saw celebrations – with maybe hundreds of people – in the Journal Square (Arab/Muslim) area of Jersey City.
At worst, Donald Trump is “guilty” of a relatively insignificant exaggeration in this case.
Matt, as a fellow activist whom I have respected, it certainly does seem that you were rather quick to excoriate “the Donald” instead of doing your usually excellent job of fact checking!
Certainly hope this is an outlier.
DUH OHHH. TRUMP IS RIGHT. IF THERE WERE HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE CHEERING THE CAMERAS CAUGHT. TRUMP Meant. Thousands upon thousands were cheering in their homes and around the area. Arab population. Stop keeping the lies going. This statement about the cheering, has been going on for yrs, & has been documented.
Sorry Matt there was cheering in Jersey City as well as Paterson , I was there saw it with my own eyes ,deniers are just cowards , it was what it was
Living in Jersey City this would not surprise me at all.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/18/northern-new-jersey-draws-probers-eyes/40f82ea4-e015-4d6e-a87e-93aa433fafdc/
Lying is bad. So when’s your article on Hillary being posted?
His story is wrong on two accounts. First, there were definitely some but not thousands. Second, it was in Patterson and not JC. I remember that vividly
Either way, it isn’t going to change a thng. Trump is the strongest a field of weenies.
Just like immigration, now they have to talk about it, and the truth hurts. That did happen.
Who cares….????/ He is not exactly the prime of American intellect, but he is the best among what the Republicans can offer at this stage and with the quality of your presidents the last 16 years you should not worry now…..
I have friends in the JCEMS and they have said that they also saw Muslims cheering in the streets as the towers fell.
Teflon Don repels all challenges ! Trump for Prez 2016 !
Donald is correct, there were thousands cheering!! There are witnesses, corroborating his stories.. The media is Corrupt !
Where is Christie? Why hasn’t come out when we are being attacked like this?
I recall seeing clips on TV news of people cheering in the streets. I believe it was Paterson, NJ. Don’t know how many, but it happened!
Point is there were people cheering all over the world on 911
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5BtQgTGOI4
LOL – some high quality reportage right here. Liberal media and GOP smart set reduced to lying about 9/11 in their latest attempt to take Trump down.
I wonder if we’ll see a correction now that there are at least 5 readers who remember the cheering in Jersey City plus a contemporaneous Washington Post article describing it.
Anyone else find it odd that this leader guy is a Jewish Convert to Islam? Tinfoil hat 3,2,1
They were cheering in the streets of Paterson and Jersey City, and I absolutely remember seeing such scenes broadcast on the news at the time. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/18/northern-new-jersey-draws-probers-eyes/40f82ea4-e015-4d6e-a87e-93aa433fafdc/
there was alot of cheering from people, many called 101.5 to tell their stories of what they saw, so Trump is not wrong
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/-jersey-city-mayor-steven-fulop-should-apologize-to-911-vict
I saw that footage on the news myself, it is very true. And was painful to watch.
BULLSHIT..! My wife and I saw it too..! Post the truth you lying bastards..!
More evidence disproving the Donald from someone who would know: https://twitter.com/nj1015/status/668910378861117440
Actually read the Washington Post article from September 18th 2001 which it states the following “In Jersey City, within hours of two jetliners’ plowing into the World Trade Center, law enforcement authorities detained and questioned a number of people who were allegedly seen celebrating the attacks and holding tailgate-style parties on rooftops while they watched the devastation on the other side of the river.” And many people will confirm what Donald Trump said https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2001/09/18/northern-new-jersey-draws-probers-eyes/40f82ea4-e015-4d6e-a87e-93aa433fafdc/ Please do research before posting.
Good grief, Matt…take a couple of Midol and change your tampon, you sniveling paintywaist.
#Trump2016
He’s not lying.
Why does the left wing lame stream media continue to defend the Obamanation administration. Could they have an agenda? How about the truth once in a while! Many did celebrate in both Jersey City and Paterson. It was reported and briefly shown on television.
You’re nitpicking. The guy made an exaggeration in the heat of a public speech. Big deal, it’s a small thing and hardly a huge lie. If this is the worst you can pull up on Trump we’re in very good shape.
Not only did this not happen in Jersey City, now it’s looking like it didn’t happen in Paterson either. The selective outrage is too ironic to bear. OK for Clinton to lie through her teeth, but not our guy. Got it. http://nj1015.com/patersons-top-cop-no-muslims-didnt-celebrate-911-in-our-streets-either/
#yuuuge is you have resorted to regurgitating Liberal Lies Matt Rooney
H/T to Ronald Berutti for this:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=W5BtQgTGOI4
Very true big article in the post on it. How quickly the sheep forget that all goring Muslims were so proud the day they attacked America . Now they don’t want to hurt their feelings and cater to their needs . That is treason . Supporting the enemy .
I have many friends recounting that they witnessed this in Jersey City and Paterson themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5BtQgTGOI4&feature=player_embedded
Not a lie