President Trump earlier this week invited members of the Army Delta Force team that took down Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to the White House — including Conan the hero dog, who played a significant role in chasing al-Baghdadi into a tunnel, where the ISIS leader blew himself up with two of his children.
While the president kept the identities of the human forces secret, he brought Conan out to meet the public.
“Conan did a fantastic job. And we’re very honored to have Conan here and to have given Conan a certificate and an award that we’re going to put up in the White House,” Trump said.
Vice President Mike Pence added, “Conan is really a hero. It’s a real joy to be able to help welcome him here to the White House with you.”
What followed was a somewhat light-hearted back and forth with the press, with members asking the president and the first lady if they wanted to adopt the dog.
However, online, some took it as an opportunity to criticize the president. Here are the top 10 worst takes:
- Joan Walsh, national affairs correspondent at the Nation, called Trump and the first lady’s “coldness” towards Conan “terrifying”:
This is terrifying. Trump and Melania exude coldness to Conan the hero dog. Melania, whose coat is slightly macabre (to me, but others may find it lovely), moves away from Conan multiple times. 1/3 https://t.co/s9T3Y4ZYTn
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) November 25, 2019
2. Walsh, later, complained she was being “slammed” for her Conan tweets, then erroneously stated Conan was a female dog and took another hit at Trump:
I am being slammed for my Conan tweets by MAGA and I do want to apologize: Conan is actually a female dog, God bless her. So I'm especially shocked Trump didn't…well, you know.
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) November 25, 2019
3. Over confusion whether Conan was a male or a female, the Washington Post‘s fact-checker Glenn Kessler accused the White House of a cover-up since Trump referred to the dog using male pronouns. In the end, the Pentagon confirmed Conan is a male dog. He then had to backtrack later:
On the other hand…..https://t.co/CZszOhUOCN
— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) November 26, 2019
4. Louise Mensch, former British parliamentarian who helped push the Russia collusion narrative, suggested that journalists file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to find out Conan’s gender and to “stop Trump playing games.” She also included a close-up of Conan’s genital-area:
No not really. It’s important that “defense officials” are lying to @abcnews. That matters.
Factually, Conan is a girl. The press should FOIA this and stop Trump playing games. pic.twitter.com/Yr7cHiHJwz
— Louise Mensch (@LouiseMensch) November 26, 2019
5. Democrat operative Claude Taylor also accused the White House of lying about Conan’s gender to cover up for Trump using male pronouns to describe him:
The White House lied about the gender of a dog because Trump understandably called Conan a “he”. Rather than acknowledge a simple mistake they chose to lie. So telling. pic.twitter.com/3GJX9ChKVa
— Claude Taylor (@TrueFactsStated) November 26, 2019
6. Spin Magazine‘s politics channel tweeted that the Trumps were going “out of their way” to avoid touching Conan (despite it normally not being advisable to pet a military working dog):
Donald and Melania Trump go out of their way to avoid touching Conan the hero dog https://t.co/rkPpCVS6Nu pic.twitter.com/ZU8UkKmnfJ
— deathandtaxes (@DeathAndTaxes) November 25, 2019
7. Yahoo News reporter Hunter Walker suggested Trump was threatening reporters when he joked, “You see how beautiful and how calm, during a situation like this, is. And you’re very lucky he doesn’t — he’s not in a bad mood today, Jeff. Not in a bad mood. You’re safe”:
Worth noting that, in his appearance with Conan, Trump jokes about siccing the dog on @jeffmason1, a great reporter who asked tough questions at a recent press conference
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) November 25, 2019
8. Vanity Fair also tweeted about Trump’s joke to Reuters’ White House reporter Jeff Mason, characterizing it as a threat:
Yes, the president threatened to unleash a bloodthirsty killer on a member of the press https://t.co/7zDYfrAW0f
— VANITY FAIR (@VanityFair) November 25, 2019
9. And perhaps one of the worst takes was from Jeanna Thomas, an associate director for NFL Team Brands, who accused Trump of misgendering Conan because he does not respect women:
I’d put money on Conan actually being female and Trump refusing to acknowledge it because he doesn’t respect women and is too fragile to ever be wrong. https://t.co/i96Gj4fiPU
— Jeañña (@jeannathomas) November 25, 2019
10. Finally, Never Trumper Bill Kristol came in with a cringe-inducing take appearing to cater to the woke crowd:
It figures Conan would be a girl, since it’s only the women who seem reliably willing to stand up against terrible authoritarian behavior. https://t.co/sy0Wk1la9V
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) November 26, 2019
Follow Breitbart News’ s @Kristina_Wong.
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