Fake news comes in a variety of forms, but some of the deepest impact comes from vivid images intended to elicit powerful emotions of blame against the target. ABC News, part of the media now in full propaganda mode intended to destroy President Trump, has just been caught in a terrible lie, worthy of Goebbels.

ABC used dramatic video images purportedly of a savage Turkish attack on Kurds, who, ABC would have us believe, are now suffering the worst consequences of war because of President Trump's troop redeployment in Syria. ABC "News" used the footage on its Sunday World News Tonight and Monday Good Morning America high-profile showcases for its reporting. The narrative supplied clearly blames Trump for what looks like an appalling slaughter:



YouTube screen grab.

"This video, obtained by ABC News, appears to show the fury of the Turkish attack on the border town of Tal Abyad," senior foreign correspondent Ian Pannell, who is in Syria, said Monday on Good Morning America. As he spoke, ABC aired footage showing undisclosed gunmen firing tracer bullets at undisclosed targets, causing massive, fiery explosions. Furious stuff indeed. Earlier, on Sunday, ABC News anchor Tom Llamas also aired the allegedly shocking footage, claiming it showed a fierce Turkish attack on Kurdish civilians. "The situation rapidly spiraling out of control in northern Syria. One week since President Trump ordered U.S. forces out of that region, effectively abandoning America's allies in the fight against [the Islamic State]," he said. Llamas then described the video as it aired on-screen. "This video right here appearing to show Turkey's military bombing Kurdish civilians in a Syrian border town. The Kurds, who fought alongside the U.S. against ISIS. Now, horrific reports of atrocities committed by Turkish-backed fighters on those very allies," he added. Viewers of the segment embedded below would believe that President Trump bears personal responsibility for Kurds being subjected to savage artillery bombardment. He is almost a war criminal — if you believe the footage is real:

I am certain that nobody at ABC News ever expected that anyone would identify the true source of the video, a test conducted at a Kentucky gun range. It took a blogger, Wojciech Pawelczyk, AKA Polish Patriot TM, to expose their deceit:

Wow! ABC News is trying to pass gun range videos as combat footage from Syria pic.twitter.com/zfTWtwwSfZ — Wojciech Pawelczyk 🇵🇱🇺🇸 (@PolishPatriotTM) October 14, 2019

Becket Adams of the Washington Examiner called up ABC News to ask about the fake news:

After seeing a comment from Twitter user Wojciech Pawelczyk, I began making some calls. As of this writing, it appears ABC indeed aired footage recorded in the Bluegrass State and claimed it was from Syria. The network has since pulled the video. "We've taken down video that aired on World News Tonight Sunday and Good Morning America this morning that appeared to be from the Syrian border immediately after questions were raised about its accuracy," a network representative told the Washington Examiner. "ABC News regrets the error." A representative for the Knob Creek Gun Range also told the Washington Examiner that they are still investigating ABC's reporting, adding further that the images aired by the network "look to be" from their Kentucky property. (snip) The footage, which appears to be from 2017, shows American gun enthusiasts putting on a terrific pyrotechnic show for an American audience. In fact, the Machine Gun Shoot and Military Gun Show, which includes the very popular night shoot, is a biannual event at the Kentucky gun range. People love the show. They love it so much, in fact, that they often record it and post video of it to social media. I don't think that we can believe any mainstream media reporting on the situation in Syria regarding the Kurds now. The geopolitics are hellishly complex to begin with, and there are no good options. But with a media establishment willing to lie this profoundly, there can be credibility at all given to their work.

Sundance of The Conservative Treehouse reminds us that the liars at ABC "News" have another propaganda production ready for airing:

ABC getting caught manufacturing Fake News should be an additional concern because ABC news is also promoting this: "Hunter Biden sits down for an exclusive interview with ABC News": This is going to be great - no matter what is said in the interview it's now clear that the foreign corrupt practices act were violated by Beijing @JoeBiden and this will further illustrate the need for a full investigation into Hunter and Joe's violationshttps://t.co/Cofhfz91rB — Tony Shaffer (@T_S_P_O_O_K_Y) October 14, 2019

President Trump tweeted about the scandal last night:

A big scandal at @ABC News. They got caught using really gruesome FAKE footage of the Turks bombing in Syria. A real disgrace. Tomorrow they will ask softball questions to Sleepy Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, like why did Ukraine & China pay you millions when you knew nothing? Payoff? — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2019

If ABC "News" had any integrity, it would hire an outside law firm politically aligned with President Trump and have it conduct a thorough investigation of how this footage was obtained and aired, naming the names of everyone who had a hand in the decision. But I am not holding my breath.