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Cockburn knows we’ve all been there before. You’re off on an innocent slosh through the Rio Grande River on the US-Mexican border when suddenly a posse of yodeling Border Patrol agents on horseback gallops up and starts attacking you with bullwhips.
Such was the outrage of the day 24,000 outrages ago when images appeared to show mounted government agents riding after Haitian immigrants illegally trying to enter the country. The agents were holding their reins, which the left promptly portrayed as whips, all but accusing the men of being Indiana Jones wannabes. The episode was blamed on racism, xenophobia, Donald Trump, who was no longer president.
Joe Biden said the agents “will pay.” Kamala Harris invoked scenes of slaves being flogged.
That the whips were clearly nothing of the sort, that strips of leather are perhaps not the most effective means of protecting a 2,000-mile border, was lost in the social media frenzy. The agents became the targets of hate and were reportedly reassigned to desk jobs by the Department of Homeland Security.
Now, Fox News is reporting that — surprise, surprise — they’ve been cleared of all wrongdoing:
🚨🚨: Fox reporting that the mounted Border Patrol agents falsely accused of "whipping" illegal migrants in Del Rio have been cleared!
Hopefully these men are fully restored after being slandered by Biden and Mayorkas. #BidenBorderCrisis pic.twitter.com/oN1NpshQ1I
— John Cooper (@thejcoop) April 13, 2022
Cockburn notes that the damage done here is far greater than a couple cracks of a whip. Those who spread this obvious lie embarrassed the United States, smeared the Border Patrol, endangered the careers and even the well-being of the agents involved, and made the already-Sisyphean job of protecting the border even more difficult.
Certainly Cockburn wouldn’t dream of questioning the commitment of our social media giants to fighting dangerous misinformation. That’s why he can only conclude that there are about to be consequences for those who spread the flip whip slip. Right?
Surely everyone from Rashida Tlaib to the secretary of homeland security is about to get banned from Twitter, or at least slapped with a content warning? Surely Brian Stelter will do a segment this weekend on the dangers of left-wing lies? Surely the Atlantic‘s crackerjack “anti-disinformation” squad will hurriedly reconvene to discuss this latest embarrassment?
Cockburn isn’t holding his breath. Though that’s mostly because he’s been running from the Orange Man’s personal cavalry.
