‘That Was Absolutely Atrocious’: Maddow Blasts Trump For Spewing Lies About Beirut Explosion

Rachel Maddow returned from vacation on Tuesday night and tore into Donald Trump for engaging in public speculation about the massive, tragic explosion in Beirut.

During his briefing earlier in the day, Trump irresponsibly referred to the explosion as an attack, without citing any supporting evidence.

“That’s, like, announcing-the-start-of-a-war kind of news from the mouth of the President of the United States,” Maddow said. “Except with this president, nah … he makes stuff up. He didn’t know if it was an attack.”

“That was absolutely atrocious today at the White House,” the MSNBC host added. “I mean, what other president did stuff like that?”

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Maddow said:

The president today speaking from the White House podium called this a ‘terrible attack’. To be clear, before the president said that today from the White House, there had been no public indication at all that this was an attack. That this was some sort of terrorist or military assault on the city of Beirut. I mean, when the president of the United States – speaking from the white house podium – says, “This is an attack,” that’s a huge piece of news. That’s a huge deal. That’s, like, announcing the start of a war kind of news from the mouth of the president of the United States. Except with this president, nah, turns out, grain of salt, he makes stuff up. He didn’t know if it was an attack. Even when he was saying it’s an attack. He didn’t know. He was just spit balling. … ‘When I announced that huge blast in Lebanon today was a terrible attack, I was just, you know — seems like maybe. Don’t listen to me on stuff like this. I really do make just things up and then blurt them out as they occur to me.’ I mean, it is very nice to have had a few days away. It is nice to be back from a week’s vacation. Nothing got better while I was gone. That was absolutely atrocious today at the White House. I mean, what other president did stuff like that? This one does that as a matter of course.

Trump’s own defense officials were quick to contradict him

Shortly after Donald Trump blurted out his theory on the Beirut explosion, his own defense officials contradicted him.

According to CNN, “Three US Defense Department officials told CNN that as of Tuesday night there was no indication that the massive explosion that rocked Beirut on Tuesday were an ‘attack,’ contradicting an earlier claim from President Donald Trump.”

As PoliticusUSA’s Jason Easley pointed out on Tuesday, this is just another example of Trump offering “baseless opinions based on what he appears to have seen on television.”

Once again, Donald Trump used his daily press briefing to spew dangerous misinformation to the public.

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Sean Colarossi

Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.