After Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike last week, an extreme (and extremely wrong) claim keeps coming up again and again. Some Republicans and conservative news organizations continue to repeat that Democrats are mourning Soleimani’s death – a false statement that misleads the public.

This claim has appeared on multiple Fox News shows, on conservative sites like RealClearPolitics and The Daily Wire and on social media. Some Republicans and conservative journalists also falsely accused nonpartisan news outlets of mourning Soleimani because they covered his funeral or for other reasons that don’t check out.

Democrats and nonpartisan journalists have not grieved Soleimani, who headed the Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force, a United States-designated terrorist organization. However, Republicans are using this false claim to cast criticism of his killing as support for Soleimani and terrorism.

What are some examples of this statement?

One of the most prominent Republicans to make this claim was former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who said on Monday during an appearance on Fox News’ Sean Hannity Show that Democratic leaders and presidential candidates are “mourning the loss of Soleimani.” PolitiFact called this “a complete fabrication” and summarized top Democrats’ statements on his killing here.

In a statement to The Dispatch, a conservative news outlet that launched last year and is attempting to pare back partisan propaganda, Haley’s office said: “Mourning comes in different forms. It doesn’t have to be literally crying over the casket like Ayatollah (Ali) Khamenei. Leading Democrats are aggressively arguing that we would be better off if Qassem Suleimani was still alive today. That is effectively mourning his death.”

It’s untrue that Democrats are arguing we’d be better off with Soleimani alive, and if they did, it would still be inaccurate to call that mourning.

Rep. Doug Collins (R-Georgia) said during a Fox Business Network interview on Wednesday that Democrats are “in love with terrorists” and mourn Soleimani more than they mourn the losses of Gold Star families, who have an immediate family member who died during U.S. military service.

Why are these claims misleading?

Another example from RealClearPolitics shows how this statement is being used and why it is manipulative.

Tony Shaffer accused several lawmakers of mourning Soleimani in this opinion piece. Here are the politicians, along with explanations of how they mourned Soleimani:

• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Because she supports a war powers resolution that would restrict President Donald Trump’s military action in Iran.
• Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-Vermont): Because he said on Twitter that Soleimani’s death would “bring us closer to another disastrous war in the Middle East that could cost countless lives and trillions more dollars.”
• Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota): Because she said on Twitter that Democrats are “outraged the president would assassinate a foreign official, possibly setting off another war without Congressional authorization and has zero plan to deal with the consequences.”

None of these statements express grief at the loss of Soleimani. None show signs of an individual in mourning. But each of these statements are critical of Trump’s decision to kill Soleimani.

This is similar to how some in the far-right describe Omar as an anti-Semite due to her criticism of Israel. But criticizing Israel isn’t the same thing as expressing anti-Semitic views.

Criticizing the decision to kill Soleimani or a potential war with Iran similarly is not the same thing as supporting terrorism or Soleimani specifically.

Our final verdict

The idea that Democrats are mourning Soleimani is not just false. This statement is being used disingenuously to manipulate the public into believing that Democrats support terrorism.

Contact Big If True editor Mollie Bryant at 405-990-0988 or bryant@bigiftrue.org. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

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