Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) is under fire after tweeting out a doctored image of President Barack Obama with Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani.
Gosar, a Republican with a penchant for creating controversy, shared the image on Monday with the caption, “The world is a better place without these two in power.” He was immediately criticized given that the image was doctored and Rouhani is still in power, serving as Iran’s president.
https://twitter.com/DrPaulGosar/status/1214276066086395906
First, it was reporters from news outlets across the country who fact-checked Gosar in real-time.
https://twitter.com/KFILE/status/1214281536817782785
Then some politicians got in on the criticism, too. Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Mn.) shared the tweet, calling it “shameless” and insisting Gosar “do better.”
Gosar responded to Omar, saying it didn’t “mean squat” to be “scolded from someone recently voted the No. 1 anti-Semite.” He called the photo “an artistic expression of Obama’s support for a terrorist regime.” Gosar also took issue with the reporters who called out the fake picture, claiming he knew it was photoshopped.
While it’s unclear whether Gosar knew the photo was fake or not, The Washington Post reported that it was “the third time in two months that the lawmaker has tweeted conspiratorial messages or misinformation.” He also posted an acrostic that spelled out Epstein Didn’t Kill Himself on his account, and even shared a now-deleted tweet claiming that George Soros’s son was the whistleblower that set off the impeachment inquiry.
Gosar continued to defend his tweet, which is still live on his account, throughout the day.
“The point remains to all but the dimmest,” Gosar said on Twitter. “Obama coddled, appeased, nurtured and protected the worlds No. 1 sponsor of terror.”