Trump brands Bette Midler a 'washed up psycho' after the actress shared a fake quote claiming the president said Republicans are the 'dumbest group of voters in the country'
- Midler shared a photo in which Trump is quoted bashing Republicans in 1998
- The meme first surfaced during the 2016 campaign and was found to be fake
- Twitter users informed Midler of her mistake, and she gave a sarcastic response
- 'I apologize; this quote turns out to be a fake,' she tweeted. 'Don't know how I missed it, but it sounds SO much like him that I believed it was true!'
- Trump fired back from London early Wednesday morning, calling the singer-songwriter a 'washed up psycho' and 'sick scammer '
Donald Trump has lashed out at 'washed up psycho' and 'sick scammer' Bette Midler after the actress apologized for unwittingly sharing a fake quote from the president.
Midler, 73, tweeted a debunked meme which featured a quote from a 1990s People Magazine interview in which Trump purportedly said: 'If I were to run, I'd run as a Republican. They're the dumbest group of voters in the country. They believe anything on Fox News. I could lie and they'd still eat it up. I bet my numbers would be terrific.'
The meme first surfaced during the 2016 campaign, at which point Politifact determined that there is no record of the then-Democrat making such a comment.
Twitter users quickly informed Midler of her mistake, and she responded in a tweet dripping with sarcasm.
'I apologize; this quote turns out to be a fake from way back in '15-16,' she wrote.
'Don't know how I missed it, but it sounds SO much like him that I believed it was true!'
Bette Midler and Donald Trump are proving there's no love lost between them as they engage in a Twitter row sparked by the actress mistakenly posting a fake quote from the president
Midler shared a photo in which Trump is quoted bashing Republicans in the 1990s. The meme first surfaced during the 2016 election and was found to be fabricated
Trump ridiculed Midler for sharing the long-debunked meme in a scathing tweet Tuesday night
The singer-songwriter went on to retweet a news article about Trump's low approval rating in the United Kingdom, where the president currently on a state visit.
'This, however, is real. Suck it up, Trumpsters!' Midler mocked.
In a following tweet she wrote: 'Yes, one must always check the quotes. That should take up, oh, maybe 23 of the 24 hours in the day? Because there are SO MANY LIES, most of them generated by Trump himself, that the task of separating the truth from the lies is impossible. Which is just how he likes it. #CHAOS.'
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Trump joined the conversation some 30 hours later, adhering to his longstanding tradition of late-night Twitter attacks.
'Washed up psycho @BetteMidler was forced to apologize for a statement she attributed to me that turned out to be totally fabricated by her in order to make "your great president" look really bad,' he wrote at 1.30am London time Wednesday. 'She got caught, just like the Fake News Media gets caught. A sick scammer!'
Midler has on countless occasions expressed her disdain for Trump.
She lambasted him over the weekend after he tweeted about Pride month, saying that the 'mental' president has 'harassed LGBTQ Americans since he took office'.
Midler owned up to her mistake in a tweet dripping with sarcasm on Monday
The singer-songwriter went on to post several more tweets criticizing the president
Midler defended her mistake by accusing Trump of being a chronic liar
