President Donald Trump appears convinced that a photoshopped image showing “MS-13” on the knuckles of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador in March, is real.
During an interview aired on Tuesday with ABC News’ Terry Moran, Trump referenced the image, which he posted to Truth Social on April 18, as evidence that Abrego Garcia belonged to the MS-13 gang.
At the time, critics of Trump suggested that the president genuinely believed MS-13 had been tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s knuckles, even though it was merely meant to be an interpretation of symbols that were actually on Abrego Garcia’s hand.
Trump fans, however, insisted that the president was aware that the phrase MS-13 was added as a reference and not actually tattooed on Abrego Garcia’s skin. Trump’s interview with ABC News appears to indicate that they were mistaken.
Despite pictures from the Salvadorian government proving that MS-13 is nowhere to be found on Abrego Garcia’s body, and the fact that experts on the gang say the symbols, which include a marijuana leaf and a skull, are not representative of MS-13, Trump found himself vigorously defending the false claim.
“Don’t do that,” Trump said after being corrected. “‘M,’ ‘S,’ ‘one,’ ‘three.’ It says ‘M,’ ‘S,’ ‘one,’ ‘three.’”
When Moran correctly noted that the MS-13 was merely an attempted interpretation, Trump pushed back further.
“Terry, do you want me to show you the picture?” Trump asked. “He had ‘M,’ ‘S’ as clear as you can be. Not ‘interpreted.’”
The interview has sent shock waves across social media, where users are dumbfounded over Trump’s inadvertent admission.
“Holy shit. I always assumed @realDonaldTrump was just weakly implying the tattoos represented MS-13,” @RalphGarman wrote. “But, no. This moron actually doesn’t know they were superimposed onto the picture. America has an actual, profound idiot for a president.”
“It’s terrifying to think that the President of the United States makes decisions based off of fake images,” another added.
After the 29-year-old Abrego Garcia was deported despite a court order forbidding it, the Trump administration admitted that the move was an “error” but said it would not work to bring him back.
The Supreme Court then ruled that Abrego Garcia should be aided in returning to his home in Maryland. A Democratic senator also traveled to El Salvador to meet with him.
But the vocal push to return him to the U.S., as well as the court ruling, have been brushed aside by the administration.
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