Kayleigh McEnany Falsely Claims All The 'Main Founding Fathers' Opposed Slavery
Former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany apparently decided the best way to defend America’s Founding Fathers was to lie about them.
McEnany was part of an all-white panel on Fox News Tuesday morning discussing Rep. Cori Bush’s (D-Mo.) July Fourth tweet, where she said that Black people are still not free in America.
When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people.
This land is stolen land and Black people still aren’t free.— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) July 4, 2021
All members of the panel were miffed by Bush’s tweet, but none more than McEnany.
“The haters never take a day off from hating, that is clear,” McEnany said. “And they never take a day off from getting the facts wrong. We know most of our forefathers, all of our main Founding Fathers, were against slavery, recognized the evils of it.”
To be clear: McEnany is wrong. Though there isn’t a consensus on the exact number of Founding Fathers who owned enslaved people, historians have said the majority of men at the signing of the Declaration of Independence were slaveowners.
In response to McEnany’s claim, misinformation nonprofit Media Matters For America pointed out that George Washington enslaved hundreds of people, Thomas Jefferson enslaved more than 600 people, and James Madison enslaved over 100 people.
You can see McEnany’s “big lie” below.
Twitter users weren’t impressed with McEnany’s fake history lesson.
And right before uttering that line she said: "The haters never take a day off from hating, that is clear, and they never take a day off of getting the facts wrong."
Just amazing, truly.— Lis Power (@LisPower1) July 6, 2021
Didn't @kayleighmcenany say as a Christian she doesn't lie? Well, she damn sure lied in this @FoxNews segment about slavery and the Founding Fathers. Did @ShannonBream@KennedyNation or Bill Bennett correct this obviously, and easily fact-checked, lie? https://t.co/V4TN7olYSn
— rolandsmartin (@rolandsmartin) July 6, 2021
Fox's Kayleigh McEnany amazingly claims that "all of our main founding fathers were against slavery, recognized the evils of it."
The majority of signers of the Declaration of Independence owned slaves, 41 of 56 according to one study. https://t.co/mGCZzHpR7npic.twitter.com/hkz1xglcGn— John Whitehouse (@existentialfish) July 6, 2021
last two pics are recreations at mount vernon of the quarters where george washington, who you may have heard of, kept the people he owned. https://t.co/Q9KZezSxQWpic.twitter.com/iY8wolD2Dy
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) July 6, 2021
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.