Fact check: Kamala Harris quote about 'vengeance' is fake, created by satire website
The claim: Kamala Harris vows 'vengeance of a nation' on Trump supporters after he leaves presidency
A purported excerpt from a speech by Sen. Kamala Harris, the Democratic pick for vice president, lays out her alleged scenario of revenge against supporters of President Donald Trump after he leaves office. It has appeared on dozens of Facebook pages.
One post claims Harris, in a June 18 speech, said this about Trump: "And once he’s gone and we have regained our rightful place in the White House, look out if you supported him and endorsed his actions, because we’ll be coming for you next. You will feel the vengeance of a nation. No stone will be left unturned as we seek you out in every corner of this great nation. For it is you who have betrayed us."
The alleged quote was posted by some Facebook users under the headline "Who the hell does she think she is?" A similar post does not include the headline. In both, the purported quote ends with, "Yes, she really said this."
In yet another version, without a headline, the quote is followed by the web address "warriorcode.us" The item also was posted by WarriorCode Nation on its Facebook page on Oct. 24, 2019. Warrior Code says it sells military, veteran, patriotic and gun rights apparel.
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The quote is satirical
The original source of the quote dates from Aug. 7, 2019, on a satirical website called bustatroll.org, which bills itself as " a subsidiary of the 'America’s Last Line of Defense' network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News." It views as its mission to fool "conservative fans of America's Last Line of Defense."
"Everything on this website is fiction," bustatroll says, in what it suggests is an effort to meet Facebook guidelines. "It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site’s pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical."
The satirical version of the purported Harris speech lists as the author "Writer Fired" under the category "Hot Potato, Satire and/or Conservative Fan Fiction." There, the vengeance quote follows with comments regarding "the path of the righteous man." Although the writer doesn't say so, that is a quote from Ezekiel 25:17, which is also recited by actor Samuel L. Jackson in a scene from the film "Pulp Fiction" before he opens fire on a man strapped to a chair.
In the bustatroll.org fake Harris speech, the senator is quoted as saying the biblical phrase is "from some crappy, old book. That’s about Trump and his enablers. I use things like that when I run out of things to say.”
The WarriorCode Nation Facebook page that carries the "vengeance" quote does not indicate that it is fake in the photo of the excerpt. Under its Facebook logo on the same page, however, WarriorCode Nation notes: "This quote was originally taken from a site called bustatroll (claiming to be satire). But we would LOVE to see the video of what she actually said."
The purported speech was declared false by The Poynter Institute's PolitiFact and Reuters Fact Check.
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Our ruling: False
Claims that Harris vows vengeance against Trumps supporters are FALSE, based on our research. The quote is bogus and was created by a satirical website and labeled as such.
Our fact-check sources:
Busatroll.org satirical website
PolitiFact, "No, Kamala Harris didn’t vow vengeance against Trump backers," June 29, 2020
Reuters, "Fact check: Kamala Harris quote on “vengeance of a nation” fabricated by satire website," June 25, 2020
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Kamala Harris quote about 'vengeance' is fake
