Trump Lawyer Jenna Ellis Defends Truth Using Fake Teddy Roosevelt Quote
A top legal adviser to President Donald Trump’s campaign is attempting to defend truth and honesty ― by using a quote falsely attributed to President Teddy Roosevelt.
Jenna Ellis posted a photo on Twitter Tuesday night of the 26th president with this quote:
“To anger a conservative, lie to him. To anger a liberal, tell him the truth.”
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) November 25, 2020
The problem is there is no evidence Roosevelt ever said that, according to Reuters.
A Snopes story from 2016 said the misattributed quote dates back to at least 2004, and possibly to 1999.
After she was called out for using a fake quote for a tweet defending truth and honesty, Ellis defended herself using “truthiness,” that term coined by Stephen Colbert to explain things that may not be true, but feel that way.
For people asking, this quotation has been attributed to Roosevelt, but there isn’t a specific record of him saying this in a speech. I posted it because the ifea itself is true, whether or not he said it! :)
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) November 25, 2020
Twitter users pointed out the flaws in her argument.
This quotation is a lie, so ... I guess it makes you angry?
— Kevin M. Kruse (@KevinMKruse) November 25, 2020
No-you posted a meme with his image attributing the quote TO HIM with no disclaimer to that effect. HOW ARE YOU A LAWYER?!
— Amee Vanderpool (@girlsreallyrule) November 25, 2020
Seems like you're angry people told you the truth.
— luke oneil (@lukeoneil47) November 25, 2020
So updating this to be more accurate pic.twitter.com/hqK1eY4285
— Don "Big Chooch" Moynihan (@donmoyn) November 25, 2020
10 hours later: "I meant to do that. The huge photo and attribution to TR? Just felt like it. Had nothing to do with the quote. Just like the ifea." https://t.co/86R1k1R8si
— Jennifer M. Wood (@j_m_wood) November 25, 2020
In the spirit of Ellis’ post, many Twitter users made up their own quotes and falsely attributed them to her.
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"I'm an embarrassment to the legal profession." - Jenna Ellis
*For people asking, this quotation has been attributed to Jenna but there's no record of her saying it. I posted it because the idea itself is true. https://t.co/SmWhoMDqE4— Bradley P. Moss (@BradMossEsq) November 25, 2020
"to summarise, your Honour, there is no specific evidence of election fraud but we are suing over it because it feels like it should be true, whether it is or not" https://t.co/GRl8w8ZmBL
— Catherine Philp (@scribblercat) November 25, 2020
oh dear. "Jenna Ellis's resume looks hella iffy." - Abraham Lincoln. https://t.co/2fVp4jwkmz
— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) November 25, 2020
One person couldn’t help but speculate on the meaning of the word “ifea.”
"Ifea" must be Swedish for "boldfaced lie" https://t.co/28s8KcYYLl
— Jamal Igle aka Hot Take Jones. (@JAMALIGLE) November 25, 2020
One person felt the best way to respond to Ellis’ fake Roosevelt quote is with a real one.
Here's an actual Teddy Roosevelt quote:
“To announce that there must be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”https://t.co/nFW9z3mNZh https://t.co/9vGM0LaeZu— John Kruzel (@johnkruzel) November 25, 2020
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
