“Believe your own eyes!”
The calls followed almost immediately after former secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem claimed that ICU nurse Alex Pretti was a domestic terrorist who approached federal agents in Minneapolis with a loaded gun in an effort to commit acts of violence. The problem was that there was video evidence that directly contradicted Noem. Pretti was holding his phone, not his gun, and he appeared to be assisting other protesters when he was tackled and shot in the back. Noem had lied to the American public, and everyone could see it.
Except not everyone cared. Almost immediately after Noem’s statements, images circulated online allegedly showing Pretti dressed in drag (later debunked by the BBC). People claimed, falsely, that Pretti was a member of Antifa, which Donald Trump has labeled a terrorist organization, as well as that he had a mental illness. Putting aside the fact that these claims were extremely misguided attempts to slander Pretti, they were also verifiably false. How did they gain so much traction?
