CNN political analyst Chris Cillizza posted an image of Donald Trump on Tuesday which featured a graphic overlay that placed the President inside a sniper’s crosshairs.
The tweet had the caption, “Donald Trump, pointing to heavens to commemorate police officers killed in the line of duty.”
The image, however, had a startling GIF that colored the image in a hue of green and featured crosshairs and a hotkey menu. It almost appears to have been an image pulled from a first-person shooter video game.
Cillizza quickly deleted the tweet, but not before sharp-eyed viewers saw it and grabbed a screenshot.
Here we have CNN’s Chris Cillizza posting an image of crosshairs around the president of the United States of America.
This is CNN. pic.twitter.com/Q0gdAbkgLw
— Caleb Hull (@CalebJHull) May 15, 2018
As in most cases, the coverup usually raises more eyebrows than the crime.
In deleting the image, Cillizza claims it was a mistake made by use of a program called Gif Grabber.
“I’ve deleted a GIF about President Trump,” he explained. “We use @GifGrabber to make our GIFs and it defaults to the image below as a first frame.”
I’ve deleted a GIF about President Trump. We use @GifGrabber to make our GIFs and it defaults to the image below as a first frame. To clear up any unintended confusion, I’ve removed the tweet. pic.twitter.com/x6PCKoiW16
— Chris Cillizza (@CillizzaCNN) May 15, 2018
Not everyone was buying that explanation.
The Daily Caller’s Benny Johnson tried to duplicate the alleged mistake Cillizza had made but was unable to put crosshairs on an image of his own tweet.
I just used GIF grabber to make a GIF of Chris Cillizza’s twitter timeline.
Strangely, there were no crosshairs inserted. pic.twitter.com/N1CvwgGq7d
— Benny (@bennyjohnson) May 15, 2018
Still, it may have been an honest mistake, but would the left be so understanding if somebody from Fox News did the same thing over an image of Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? Of course not, they’d be investigated for making a threat.
Imagine the outrage had this been done to Obama
— Francesca DAbruzzo (@RougePappillon) May 15, 2018
@CillizzaCNN , meet Secret Service.
— Don Fredrick (@Colony14) May 16, 2018
No, Cillizza will escape the outrage, escape the responsibility.
He won’t be nearly as lucky as Sarah Palin, who once used target graphics over political opponents and was wrongfully blamed for inciting the mass shooting in Tucson, Arizona in 2011.
Then again, double standards in media are the norm.
Do you think Cillizza made an honest mistake or a Freudian slip? Share your thoughts below!
