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Sunday, October 5, 2025

Opus 2025-457: Click Bait: A Moment of Weakness

I usually just ignore click-bait unless it’s from a source I know on a topic I am really concerned about.  I got suckered in recently.  The click bait said that Erika’s gesture had cost Trump $12 million.  It showed a picture of her giving the devil horns.  That’s where you have your pinky and your pointer finger standing up and the middle two folded it under.  It’s kind of like a ward-off-evil type of thing.  The problem is that when you watched the actual video clips it became clear that the picture they had was just a Photoshop.  There was nothing in it about her making a gesture.  What they were talking about was how Trump had insisted on a large memorial service and it ended up costing him a lot of money.  They spent a lot of time on the fact that during the service he gave Eric several fatherly hugs, which is not his usual pattern.

The point is that the click-bait was a total lie.  There was nothing mentioned about $12 million in the video.  And the gesture was made by Trump not by Erika.

I hope I learned my lesson.  I can’t guarantee it.

homo unius libri

2 comments:

  1. I saw that clickbait picture and thought it was the American Sign Language sign for I love you (the I, the L, and the Y in one sign). Just glanced at it, so I might have imagined the thumb stick out as part of the Y.

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    1. Now that is a thought that would never have occurred to me. My kids were into it at one point but what little I learned I did not retain. I don't remember seeing her give the gesture in the video.

      Grace and peace,

      Pumice

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