Trump responds to Barcelona attack by reviving debunked myth

In responding more quickly than with Charlottesville, president cites fictitious story of general dipping bullets in pig’s blood before execution of Islamic soldiers

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Donald Trump has responded to the Barcelona attack by reviving an already debunked anecdote about a US general dipping bullets in pig’s blood to fight Islamic militants more than a hundred years ago.

After a relatively conventional response to the attack, in which he went on to Twitter to call on the people of Barcelona to be “tough and strong” and offer help from the US, he posted another, more cryptic, tweet, saying: “Study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught. There was no more Radical Islamic Terror for 35 years!”

The tweet echoed a highly controversial claim Trump made at an election rally in South Carolina in February 2016, in which he talked admiringly about a counter-insurgency in the Philippines conducted by Gen John Pershing between 1909 and 1913, when he was governor of Moro province.

“They were having terrorism problems just like we do,” Trump said. “And he caught 50 terrorists who did tremendous damage and killed many people. And he took the 50 terrorists, and he took 50 men, and he dipped 50 bullets in pig’s blood.”

He claimed that Pershing then “had his men load his rifles and he lined up the 50 people, and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said, ‘You go back to your people and you tell them what happened.’”

In 2016, Trump claimed such mass executions ended the Islamic insurgency for a quarter-century. “Twenty-five years, there wasn’t a problem,” he said. In his new tweet he revised that estimated upward to 35 years.

This account of Pershing’s actions has circulated on the internet since 2001 but historians say there is very little if any evidence to support it, and Trump was denounced for his support of mass killing aggravated by racist insults. But the outburst solidified his support among the US far right, and did nothing to impede his victory in the Republican primaries and then the election last November. Trump appears to have had domestic politics in mind when he sent out his tweet in response to the Barcelona attack.

His relationship with that section of his support has come under renewed scrutiny since the attack on a crowd in Charlottesville, Virginia, by a white supremacist on Saturday. It took him two days to assign blame directly on the far right, only to contradict himself the next day with a claim that “both sides” were to blame for the incident.

Trump was much faster in pointing the finger of blame in the wake of Barcelona, but his erratic response echoed the controversy over Charlottesville, in which conventional political language, apparently drafted by aides, has alternated with a personal gut reaction that has had an explosive and divisive effect.

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, appeared to take on Trump in his Twitter reaction to the Barcelona attack. An initial tweet offered solidarity for the victims of and the pledge: “We remain united and determined.” But in a follow-up, Macron – who has repeatedly acted as a foil to Trump on the world stage – said: “We stand beside those who fight racism and xenophobia. It is our common fight, in past and present.” He added the hashtag: #Charlottesville.

Before Trump took to Twitter, the US secretary of state, Rex Tillerson, said the administration stood ready to help Spanish law enforcement and national authorities and advised Americans in Spain to call home to reassure relatives.

“Terrorists around the world should know that the United States and our allies are resolved to find you and bring you to justice,” Tillerson said.

In the UK, Theresa May, said: “My thoughts are with the victims of today’s terrible attack in Barcelona and the emergency services responding to this ongoing incident.

“The UK stands with Spain against terror,” she added.

The UK foreign secretary, Boris Johnson said he was “concerned and saddened” by the attack and said the foreign office was “doing all we can to identify whether Brits need help”.

Sadiq Khan, the London mayor who has had to handle a string of recent terrorist attacks in Westminster, London Bridge and Finsbury Park, wrote on Twitter: “”My thoughts are with the victims of this barbaric terrorist attack in the great city of Barcelona and with their brave emergency services.

“London stands with Barcelona against the evil of terrorism.”

The Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn, tweeted about the “terrible reports from Barcelona”, saying: “My thoughts are with those killed and injured, and the emergency services working to save lives.”

And the German foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, said he was “deeply shocked” by the incident. He added: “Our sympathies are with the victims and their relatives and friends.”