John Bolton, President Trump’s new national security advisor, is surrounded by controversy.
However, Lee Fang writes that, among the criticisms put forth, he is surprised that Bolton’s work with a think tank known as the Gatestone Institute has not faced closer scrutiny.
At the time of his appointment, Bolton served as the chairman of the think tank.
Gatestone Stories Debunked
Fang explains that, not only are Gatestone’s articles focused almost solely on the negative impact of Muslims in Western society, they are often based on sensationalized evidence or are completely false.
In an analysis for The Intercept, Fang emphasizes examples of the rhetoric employed on the site: Incorrect claims of a “migrant rape crisis” and “Muslim mass-rape gangs” in Europe and arguments that the refugees bring “highly infectious diseases, genital mutilation practices and terror.”
He points to specific stories from the site that have been independently debunked. Among the most well-known is the disproven story that there are “no-go zones” in European countries where Muslims have built such a parallel society that police cannot enforce the law there. While a number of conservative sites — and 2016 GOP presidential nominees — repeated the falsehood, Fang notes that Gatestone first raised the concept in 2012, making it the original published source.
Bolton Has Received $310,00 from Gatestone
Fang writes that Bolton has made no effort to conceal his ties to “the forces of Islamaphobia,” and that he has earned at least $310,000 from the Gatestone Institute over the years.
Ultimately, Fang laments, Bolton’s ethics, as a strategist willing to publish false information to further his own goals, warrant serious alarm now that he occupies a position of White House influence.
In contrast, Gatestone Institute said that it was “proud” that Trump selected Bolton to lead the National Security Council.
“We warmly congratulate both him and President Donald J. Trump on an appointment that is great for America, great for its allies and great for the free world,” stated Gatestone’s website.
To read Fang’s complete analysis of Bolton’s role in Gatestone, click here: JOHN BOLTON CHAIRS AN ACTUAL “FAKE NEWS” PUBLISHER INFAMOUS FOR SPREADING ANTI-MUSLIM HATE
RS
March 28, 2018 at 3:14 pm
Anti-islamist, not anti-Muslim.
Let’s remember that the first military conflict fought by the newly-independent United States of America was against the Barbary Pirates, i.e. the Islamist forces in North Africa.