The Supreme Court recently blocked a citizenship question from the 2020 United States Census in a blow to President Donald Trump. Not one to take a loss lying down, Trump took to Twitter to say he'd be consulting with lawyers to explore his options of delaying the census, which is constitutionally mandated to occur every ten years.
On Tuesday, Trump's Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross confirmed to reporters on the record that they had already begun printing the decennial census without the citizenship question. A Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed this.
Then, on Wednesday, things got weird.
The News Reports about the Department of Commerce dropping its quest to put the Citizenship Question on the Census… https://t.co/93mOeniO05— Donald J. Trump (@Donald J. Trump) 1562166400.0
While many of the reports Trump deems as fake usually rely on unnamed sources, Trump is directly contradicting two on-the-record, reliable sources, including his own commerce secretary.
People were quick to point out the glaring contradiction.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross yesterday: “The Census Bureau has started the process of printing the decennial ques… https://t.co/PSHAeMFUvG— Kaitlan Collins (@Kaitlan Collins) 1562166558.0
@realDonaldTrump The Census is already being printed per your own administration. https://t.co/SKjEbQS4GO— Ryan Hill (@Ryan Hill) 1562166486.0
@realDonaldTrump https://t.co/GKB1ONzw5m— #RandomWhiteGuy (@#RandomWhiteGuy) 1562169208.0
@realDonaldTrump It was @TheJusticeDept, run by your lackey, Bill Barr who provided this information to the #FreePress— Impatient Cat 🇺🇸 #BetoForever 🇺🇸 Ⓜ️🍑🤡 (@Impatient Cat 🇺🇸 #BetoForever 🇺🇸 Ⓜ️🍑🤡) 1562173755.0
Here’s the email from DOJ https://t.co/PdyfK0a1hJ— Daniel Jacobson (@Daniel Jacobson) 1562099982.0
It had people wondering: Is the man okay?
@realDonaldTrump Can we all just agree that Trump’s dementia is getting worse? Pence had to be called back to DC be… https://t.co/2FMincbai6— Alex Cole (@Alex Cole) 1562167679.0
@realDonaldTrump What stage of brain damage is it where you forget the events of the past 24 hours?— bring back the rule of Law (@bring back the rule of Law) 1562175534.0
@realDonaldTrump Do you even know what your own administration is doing? https://t.co/AHauIJKgCl— Helen Kennedy (@Helen Kennedy) 1562167174.0
Who even knows anymore?