Two days ago, social media was on fire over an alleged image of the “Very Fake News CNN’s” Anderson Cooper standing up to his waist while covering the effects of Hurricane Florence. The image, which was clearly designed to decieve their viewers, was actually taken in Texas, in 2008 during post-Hurricane Ike coverage.
A Trump campaign veteran, Gavin J. Smith tweeted the photo of the shameful attempt by CNN to make the flooding appear worse than it is, with Anderson Cooper standing in water that is up to his waist, while only a few feet away, the camera crew can be seen in water up to their ankles.
Smith tweeted: “Absolutely disgraceful! Apparently #HurricaneFlorence wasn’t devastating enough for @CNN’s @andersoncooper — so he had to exaggerate for his live shot. #FakeNews at its finest!”
https://twitter.com/iamgavinjames/status/1041047974879617024
Donald Trump Jr. used the image of Anderson Cooper standing up to his waist in the flood water along with a link to a Breitbart article that shows how abysmal the ratings are for the Very Fake News network CNN. Trump Jr. tweeted: It’s a shame that CNN’s ratings are down 41%. What’s worse is there’s a simple solution that they refuse to accept. Stop Lying to try to make @realDonaldTrump look bad.
It’s a shame that CNN’s ratings are down 41%. What’s worse is there’s a simple solution that they refuse to accept. Stop Lying to try to make @realDonaldTrump look bad. https://t.co/O3XyWchsJh pic.twitter.com/BCUCxKnOvO
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 16, 2018
The photo of Anderson Cooper, however, was not from Hurricane Florence, but instead, from Hurricane Ike flooding in Bridge City, Texas, in September 2008. In defense of Donald Trump Jr., he never mentioned Hurricane Florence in his tweet, he simply included the image which illustrates how CNN deceives their readers with manufactured images.
Cooper addressed the viral posts and memes on “Anderson Cooper 360” Monday night. The camera crew stood on higher ground in shallow water because it would not have been able to operate in deep water, but Cooper said he wanted to stay off the road and out of the way of emergency rescue crews.
“Now you can argue I didn’t need to be standing in waist-deep water. I could have stood on the road with the camera crew,” Cooper said. “But again, I didn’t want to be roaming around on the highway interfering with rescue vehicles in any way. I also wanted to show people how deep the water was, and how dangerous it is for anyone driving.”
Many people drive off the road during flooding and get caught in deceptively deep water, Cooper explained.
Some Twitter users accused Cooper of kneeling in the water to make the flooding look worse. Other clips from the report show that Cooper was not kneeling, however. In one clip, he walked to a post that shows that the water level was about a foot higher earlier in the day. In another clip, he took a few steps toward the camera crew into the shallower water so he could pet a dog roaming in the floodwaters.
After Cooper called out Donald Trump Jr. for posting the image of him on Twitter, and asked what the chances were that Trump Jr. would “apologize”, Trump Jr. responded, by reminding him that he didn’t say that image of Cooper was taken after Florence, and that it didn’t really matter which hurricane the picture was taken after, that the fact is, CNN was trying to deceive their viewers:
CNN doing what they do best. Crying & Lying. @AC360 says I said it was a pic from Florence Isaid no such thing. “evidence” CNN provided doesn’t even reference Florence. You guys can’t even fact check a meme. The illusion created by the pic is illustrative of the bs you sell!
CNN doing what they do best.
Crying & Lying.@AC360 says I said it was a pic from Florence
Isaid no such thing.“evidence" CNN provided doesn't even reference Florence. You guys can't even fact check a meme.
The illusion created by the pic is illustrative of the bs you sell! https://t.co/wnRSns1Thf
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 18, 2018
Anderson Cooper of CNN pretending to be in waist high water from hurricane Florence. …as always ..CNN FAKE NEWS pic.twitter.com/BmFEiHWntW
— Rodney A (@RodneyA82126016) September 15, 2018
Trump Jr. responded to Cooper’s attacks on him during his CNN show, Anderson Cooper 360, Trump Jr. responded on Twitter by saying he never claimed Cooper’s picture was from Florence, but was instead, calling out their horrible ratings with viewers:
CNN doing what they do best. Crying & Lying. @AC360 says I said it was a pic from Florence Isaid no such thing. “evidence” CNN provided doesn’t even reference Florence. You guys can’t even fact check a meme. The illusion created by the pic is illustrative of the bs you sell!
Not surprised @AC360 lied about me on @CNN last night. Par for the course. I never said the pic of him was from Florence.
When I tweeted out the picture of @AC360 it was with a link to an article about CNN's dwindling ratings. Nothing to do with Florence. https://t.co/fflwOa10GK
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) September 18, 2018