Some lies spread like wildfire.
A video of two Missouri Republican lawmakers detonating flamethrowers went viral over the weekend as users falsely claimed the state senators were burning books.
Missouri Senators Bill Eigel and Nick Schroer were filmed shooting flamethrowers at a pile of empty cardboard boxes at a local GOP fundraiser Friday night after being invited to demonstrate the equipment, which was drawn during the event.
However, a user from X, formerly known as Twitter, I reshared the clip with the caption added: “Missouri Republicans in a literal book burning.” They think flamethrowers should be legal but the history books should be destroyed. »
The tweet with the added — and inaccurate — text received more than 19 million views on Wednesday and was quickly picked up by Democrats like Missouri state Rep. Crystal Quade, who is running for governor of the state. Show-Me” against Eigle.
“If you agree we need more books, not fewer cooler heads, fewer flamethrowers, I hope you contribute below to join our campaign,” Quade said in a tweeta link to a donation page for his gubernatorial campaign.
But Republican lawmakers said the boxes they set alight contained no books and the false claims even spread to French media.
“I said, ‘Well, I’m glad there’s no Bud Light cans (in the burning piles) because once this gets out in the media, it’ll become the story .’ I didn’t know people were just going to make up what was happening,” Schroer told FOX2 Now, referring to the Bud Light trans influencer controversy.
He said he and Eigel were quickly criticized and compared to hate groups.
“We were called Nazis, members of the KKK; every name under the sun,” he said.
Schroer also called out Quade for sharing the fake post.
“For someone like Crystal Quade, the minority leader, to take these people’s bait on social media and promote this fake news…I think Republicans and Democrats should come together to not not sow discord, not spread hatred and propaganda,” he told the newspaper. local station. “I think it’s a great time to think about what’s true before you share an article, before you share a social media post.”
Eigel instead fanned the fire around the incident by saying that even though he didn’t burn books in the video, that didn’t mean he wouldn’t do it at a different time.
“You bring these woke pornographic books into Missouri schools to try to brainwash our children, and I will burn them too – on the lawn of the governor’s mansion,” he wrote on X.
His account was suspended for about five hours after this post was posted.
Although no books were harmed in the making of the viral video, Missouri conservatives have been pushing to ban books they deem inappropriate.
Last year, the state passed a law banning books containing sexually explicit images from school libraries — which two state library associations say prompted school districts to remove hundreds of books from their collections in the context of a trial.
With post wires
USA News Gb1
