Jim Rosica
Snopes.com has debunked the recent “endorsement” of presidential candidate Donald Trump by aviation hero and retired Air Force Gen. Chuck Yeager.
The latest online legend began as a Nov. 5 post on “conservative strategist” Gary Forbes‘ blog.
An about 1,900-word article purportedly written by the 92-year-old former test pilot — famous for the being first person to break the sound barrier — reads as a defense of Trump.
For example, “while it may surprise many, he’s actually humble when it comes to his generosity and kindness,” it says.
The post also sticks up for Trump as a friend of the military and believer in a strong national security plan, among other things.
One problem: Yeager didn’t write it, according to Snopes, a fact-checking website for claims in email chains and on the Internet.
This article, titled “Donald Trump — Who He REALLY Is by Chuck Yeager,” was not written by the retired USAF General, nor was it first published on the Gary Forbes website. The article has been posted on a variety of blogs and websites … Chuck Yeager’s name was eventually tacked on to the essay, first by Catholic.org in August, and later by Gary Forbes, but this form of credit was undertaken without the General’s knowledge or approval.
As people started to tweet links to the post, Yeager’s personal Twitter account (@GenChuckYeager) tweeted back not to.
“Please delete this,” read one tweet. “As a military person, I do not publicly endorse candidates.”
Screenshots of the tweets were included in the Snopes post, but it appears they’ve since been hidden from Yeager’s public Twitter account. (Here’s a direct link to one of them.)
