The Trump family’s mantra is “fake news,” but they recently have been exposed for using or spreading fake things too. In the case of Donald Trump Jr., he is being criticized for tweeting that the age of the Redditor who edited the fake wrestling match of Donald Trump with WWE President Vince McMahon is only 15.
So I guess they weren't effective threatening the admin so they go after & bully a 15 y/o? Seems in line w their "standards" #CNNBlackmail https://t.co/u8YmNnLonj
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) July 5, 2017
CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski, who claimed to have identified the Redditor who edited the fake wrestling video of the billionaire to make it appear he slammed CNN, said the person is a man in his late 30s, not a teen.
The man uses the name HanA**holeSolo on Reddit, but CNN opted not to publish his real name because he is a private citizen.
Redditor apologizes
Gizmodo reported that after the furor caused by the video, which the president tweeted as his way of getting back at CNN whom Trump accused of spreading fake news, the Redditor apologized. He said the offending video has been removed and he promised not to post similar videos on social media sites again.
Kaczynski accused Donald Jr. of intentionally spreading the fake news that HanA**holeSolo is a 15-year-old teen whom CNN is allegedly harassing. The CNN reported by stressing that HanA**holeSolo is a middle-aged man, The New York Daily News reported.
Mashable noted that the Redditor had, in the past, posted offensive content online such as racist and anti-Semitic comments.
Part of HanA**holeSolo’s apology was a clarification that what President Trump tweeted was not the original post but it was altered. He promised to stop posting hateful content and hoped to end the controversy by deleting his Reddit account.
Trumps vs. CNN
The tweet of the wrong age, repeated also by Jack Posobiec, a pro-Trump celebrity, boils down to a credibility match between President Trump and CNN.
With a 50 percent trust rating based on an online survey of almost 5,000 adults, Cable News Network clearly won because Trump got only 43 percent.
When CNN said that it reserved the right to publish the identity of HanA**holeSolo if he repeats his obnoxious behavior, Mike Cernovich, an alt-right personality, spread the use of the hashtag #CNNBlackmail to insinuate that the network forced the erring Redditor to apologize or else the broadcast network will expose his identity.
Julian Assange, the NSA leaker, also jumped into the fray and accused CNN of crossing a legal line based on his interpretation of the criminal codes of the New York state. He accused CNN of coercion, but the Redditor is a resident of Tennessee, while CNN and Turner Broadcasting, its parent company, are incorporated in Atlanta, Georgia.
