A Republican senator shared an unsourced Trump Team talking point on social media Wednesday and faced immediate accusations that he had made the whole thing up.
Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) suggested on X Wednesday morning that a liberal "meltdown" was the reason Vice President Kamala Harris chose running mate Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN) over Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA).
"So I hear Kamala had chosen SHAPIRO last week - but the lefty Dems had a meltdown," Hawley wrote. "So she caved and went with Gov. Angry Old Man instead."
Trump and his fellow Republicans have repeatedly suggested that antisemitism played a role in Harris' decision to reject Shapiro, a Jewish lawmaker who condemns Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right politics but supports the nation's right to defend itself after Hamas' attack on Oct. 7 and criticized pro-Palestinian protests in his state.
But Politico reports Shapiro called Harris’ team Sunday to say he was “struggling with the decision to leave his current job as governor, in order to seek the vice presidency.”
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Publicly, Shapiro has thrown "enthusiastic support" behind Harris and Walz.
Hawley's comment Wednesday did not include a source for his information of a "lefty" meltdown but did include a jab directed at Harris; "Great decision making skills there, Kamala."
Elie Mystal, a justice correspondent for the Nation and MSNBC commentator, shared Hawley's message with his readers along with a satirical summary.
"'So I hear' is Josh Hawley for 'I’m gonna make some s--- up, then skip away,'" Mystal wrote.
Anthropologist Sarah Kendzior, author of "Hiding in Plain Sight: The Invention of Donald Trump and the Erosion of America," echoed Mystal's suggestion that Hawley's claim was not based in fact.
"No one falls for your act, and no one cares if you fall," Kendzior wrote. "You have no place in this system anymore. I’d feel sorry for you if it weren’t self-inflicted."
