The sports would do well if it could conjure up the same stiff competition that occurred on Thursday for the absolute worst social media post on a day of tragedy.
After 12 U.S. Marines and a Navy corpsman were killed in a terrorist attack in Kabul during the chaotic exit ordered by President Joe Biden, Malcolm Nance, an alleged terrorism expert for MSNBC, told horrified Americans to “deal with it.”
“20 YEARS- FYI there have been terrorist suicide bombers killing civilians nearly DAILY in Afghanistan. This ain’t new. It’s why we are leaving. #DealWithIt,” Nance tweeted.
Nance, of course, failed to note that this was the deadliest day in Afghanistan for American troops in a decade and that no American troops have died in action since February 2020.
Among the reactions, Nance generated was a comment by First Amendment lawyer Ari Cohn, who tweeted: “There were a million different ways you could have made your point, and yet you chose the one that makes you an a–hole.”
Conservative columnist Julio Rosas tweeted before the breadth of the attack was fully known, “U.S. Marines are among the wounded you despicable sack of s–t.”
Nance apparently deleted the tweet after the blowback ensued.
But then rivaling Nance was Vice.com.
“While many vets are being outed as far-right extremists, one branch keeps popping up when it comes to neo-Nazis: the United States Marine Corps,” the outlet tweeted above a story entitled “Why Are So Many Marines Neo-Nazis?”
That, too, garnered a reaction – and eventually a deleted tweet.
But as one outraged Twitter user, John Cardillo, fired back, “Hey @VICE, the Internet is forever you trash losers. Tweeting this on a day Marines were killed. Delete your account.”
Another Twitter user, Lee Williams, added, “Do you realize a dozen Marines just made the ultimate sacrifice defending our citizens and our nation’s freedoms, including your right to publish this filth?”
A third, James Lindsay, added, “Deleted but never forgotten, @VICE. May the shame of this follow you forever, end your disgusting outlet, and stop its evil mission.”
Others came close to being utterly tone-deaf on Thursday.
Social media influencer Mike Cernovich posted a tweet that included screenshots of Nance and Vice, as well as Sgt. Maj. of the Army Michael Grinston who on Thursday posted about Women’s Equality Day and tweeted a photo of female soldiers’ hairstyles that said, in part, “Do you have people that don’t look or think like you in the room? Inclusion is listening and valuing those people.”
Cernovich’s post also included a screencap of a Politico story from Aug. 24, with the headline: “White House to media: We want our props on Afghanistan.”
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