President Donald Trump's daughter in law and advisor to his reelection campaign, Lara Trump, addressed Republicans at the third night of the party's convention on Tuesday.
In her speech, Lara Trump claimed to quote former President Abraham Lincoln.
Watch below.
Lincoln never said this quotation just recited by Lara Trump: https://t.co/6qSt5yUPzz pic.twitter.com/HnawSKikdk
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) August 27, 2020
According to Lara Trump:
"Abraham Lincoln once famously said: 'America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves.'"
In fact, Abraham Lincoln didn't say that.
Reporting from PolitiFact indicates that the false quote attributed to Lincoln may have emerged from a July 22 right-wing internet meme that claims "Radical Democrats" are destroying the United States.
Vets for Trump / Facebook
The closest actual quote from Lincoln has a similar idea, but completely different wording:
"At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."
Fact checkers didn't hesitate to correct the gaffe.
Lara Trump used a fake Abraham Lincoln quote from a Facebook meme during her speech at the Republican National Convention. pic.twitter.com/YanQXATONV
— HuffPost (@HuffPost) August 27, 2020
That nice Lincoln quote Lara Trump just said? Lincoln didn't say it. https://t.co/6BrYGvSypy #RNC2020
— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) August 27, 2020
Lara Trump misquotes Abraham Lincoln during RNC speech after seemingly taking words from a meme https://t.co/Zp9ygf7LDR
— The Independent (@Independent) August 27, 2020
And soon, the internet was roasting Lara Trump.
Attn: @LaraLeaTrump https://t.co/bHdkQAWQat pic.twitter.com/L655rMDTLv
— Trumpism is a deathcult (@glocker36) August 27, 2020
No lie is beneath them. It is their way of life. https://t.co/jeNzhmGbsn
— WonderWoman934🌊 🌊 (@WonderWoman934) August 27, 2020
They lie about everything. Even when they know what they're saying is being fact-checked in real-time, they keep on lying.
It doesn't matter to their target audience that they're lying, because they're too proudly stupid and confidently ignorant to care about facts. https://t.co/chch2s4Sy3
— Alysson - Ride or Die OG Member of Bianca's KHive® (@Alysson) August 27, 2020
Typical Trump. Just lie when reading the truth is too hard. https://t.co/Mv3QoBIuRE
— Linda McG (@learn2livekona) August 27, 2020
It wasn't the only part of her speech that necessitated a fact check.
Lara Trump: Under President Trump's leadership, "4.3 million new jobs have been created for women."
This used to be true. Isn't anymore. They're just pretending that the pandemic never happened.
As of July 2020, women had lost more than 3 million jobs under Trump.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 27, 2020
Lara Trump says President Trump will “keep America prosperous."
Is she forgetting about the millions of Americans who are still unemployed because of his failed coronavirus response?#trumpchaos #BuildBackBetter
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) August 27, 2020
Lara Trump says the thing that so impressed her upon meeting the Trump family was that “they were down to earth." pic.twitter.com/lgsWpeLmzw
— Tim O'Brien (@TimOBrien) August 27, 2020
The final night of the Republican National Convention begins on Thursday at 8:30 PM.