Time Magazine columnist Ian Bremmer apologized Monday for fabricating a quote from President Donald Trump about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un that went viral the day before.
“My tweet yesterday about Trump preferring Kim Jong Un to Biden as President was meant in jest,” Bremmer tweeted Monday. “The President correctly quoted me as saying it was a ‘completely ludicrous’ statement. I should have been clearer. My apologies.”
My tweet yesterday about Trump preferring Kim Jong Un to Biden as President was meant in jest. The President correctly quoted me as saying it was a “completely ludicrous” statement. I should have been clearer. My apologies.
— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) May 27, 2019
Bremmer’s apology comes after he tweeted a quote attributed to the president alleging he said, “Kim Jong Un is smarter and would make a better President than Sleepy Joe Biden.”
Many people quickly retweeted Bremmer and expressed their dismay. After several hours, he took down the tweet. He defended it as “plausible” because it appeared in the same vein as Trump’s earlier praise for Kim after he insulted former Vice President and current presidential candidate Joe Biden. (RELATED: Trump And Kim Jong Un Agree Biden Is ‘Low IQ,’ Says Sarah Sanders)
The tweet was on social media long enough for CNN contributor Ana Navarro and Democratic California Rep. Ted Lieu to quote tweet Bremmer, but they proceeded to delete their tweets after he admitted to making the original tweet up.
screenshot/Twitter
“This is objectively a completely ludicrous quote. And yet kinda plausible,” Bremmer tweeted and then deleted after he acknowledged making the quote up. “Especially on twitter, where people automatically support whatever political position they have. That’s the point.”
Trump weighed in on the fake tweet Monday morning, saying in part, “This is what’s going on in the age of Fake News. People think they can say anything and get away with it. Really, the libel laws should be changed to hold Fake News Media accountable!