Vox claimed that President Donald Trump is banking on a terrorist attack on United States so that Republicans have a better chance in the 2018 midterms.
In an article titled “Donald Trump’s terrifying plan to win the 2018 midterms,” Matthew Yglesias speculated that Trump hopes terrorists attack the U.S. because it would help him politically.
Yglesias got this wild assertion from a Washington Post report that states Trump is hopeful about the 2018 midterms because George W. Bush and Republicans fared better in 2002 than expected. Those results were partially due to the Sept. 11 attacks, but there is no indication that Trump was suggesting he wanted the same to happen now or that he even referenced the attacks at all.
“If Trump thinks a terrorist attack would serve his political interests — either through a blind rally-’round-the-flag effect or by specifically validating anti-immigrant demagoguery or what have you — how hard is he really working to keep the country safe?” Yglesias wrote.
Trump’s plan to win the midterms is really scary https://t.co/yUC4btc1LF
— Matthew Yglesias (@mattyglesias) January 17, 2018
Brendan Nyhan, a Dartmouth political science professor, expertly debunked Yglesias’ claim.
This is misleading – an elliptical reference to Trump saying Bush did better than expected in 2002 is transformed into “a terrifying plan” to win the 2018 midterms by capitalizing on terrorism. That claim is just not clearly supported by the underlying text. https://t.co/KHzZnnq0Du
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) January 17, 2018
Source: https://t.co/Wwq1A7d5uk. Do we know he specifically referenced the terrorist attacks or is that context added by the reporters? And note this is all secondhand.
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) January 17, 2018
Finally, there’s no reference to a “plan.” Would appreciate clarification from @michaelscherer, @jdawsey1 and/or @WaPoSean on any of these points above, but I’m pretty sure if there was a “plan” it would have been giant news. (FWIW I found the text ominous but hard to interpret.)
— Brendan Nyhan (@BrendanNyhan) January 17, 2018