Donald Trump is hard to ignore, but could he perhaps be erased?
On Wednesday, Trump’s Wikipedia page was vandalized twice by editors who tried to delete the entry about the billionaire business mogul, reality TV star, and US presidential candidate.
Trump is a magnet for media attention, and has a tendency to court controversy and criticism with brash statements that, well, aren’t too classy.
Since announcing his campaign, Trump has referred to Mexican immigrants as “killers” and “rapists,” and said Senator John McCain – a decorated veteran and a prisoner of war for five years in Vietnam – is “not a war hero.”
We don’t know whether the edits on Wednesday were a form of protest or a practical joke, but Trump’s Wikipedia page was quickly restored – within minutes both times.
According to the page’s revision history, the first vandal blanked the entire page by deleting all the content.
A couple of hours later, another editor removed all of the content and replaced it with one line:
Lets be fair, nobody cares about him.
People say a lot of things about Trump, but it’s hard to argue that “nobody cares about him” – on Wikipedia, his page has been viewed over 900,000 times in the last 30 days.
Wikipedia is of course a great example of crowdsourcing knowledge, and anyone can edit a Wikipedia entry – editing by many people can create a more well-rounded story or correct errors, a kind of built-in accountability.
But its open nature makes Wikipedia ripe for abuse such as sock puppetry and vandalism.
The first vandal, user RJP5322, was blocked for three days; the second vandal, user Trampster1442, wasn’t.
Trampster1442’s profile says he is “a British fellow who occasionally dabs in helping Wikipedia to be a better place.”
Sorry Trampster, we’d argue that vandalizing Trump’s page isn’t making Wikipedia “a better place” – besides, Trump has faced far worse consequences for his offensive rantings.
Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants were met with a swift backlash – Macy’s department stores no longer sell Trump’s clothing line, and his Miss USA beauty pageant was dropped by TV networks NBC and Univision.
In another attempt to sideline Trump, the Huffington Post announced it would no longer cover Trump’s campaign on its politics page, but in its entertainment section.
He’s suffered other indignities and embarrassments: in 2013, Trump’s Twitter account (where he frequently lashes out at critics) was hijacked.
Hackers also breached the point-of-sale systems at several of Trump’s luxury hotels earlier this year and stole an unknown number of guest payment card details.
Yes, Trump is a prime target for online attacks.
But if anyone is going to take Trump down, it will probably be himself.
Image of Donald Trump courtesy of Andrew Cline / Shutterstock.com
Andy
You should not paraphrase Trump’s June 16th statement. You’ve chopped out some key words to alter the message to something that wasn’t spoken.
Ben
Sorry Andy, there’s no amount of context that makes those quotes ok. Trump is an idiot and a bigot.
“They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
“You have people coming in, and I’m not just saying Mexicans — I’m talking about people that are from all over that are killers and rapists, and they’re coming into this country.”
“[John McCain]’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”
Steve
Sorry, Ben, but there’s no amount of perceived bigotry that makes it excusable for a journalist and/or professional blogger to cherry-pick a couple of words out of a larger context the way it was done here and many other places. If someone has a point to make, and the facts (words, in this case) are on their side, there should be no need to slice and dice those facts to make their case.
Trump is a jackass, in my opinion. But banning him from TV, deleting his Wiki-presence, or any other such senseless reactions, will not help prove that to anyone. Let him finish proving it himself.
JR
Please explain which part of any of those statements are incorrect… note I didn’t ask if they were acceptable to your sensibilities, I asked which are incorrect.
The reality is EVERYTHING he stated is completely accurate, and resonates with a large number of people. It certainly isn’t the PC thing to say, but nothing has been gained by being PC, certainly not the terrible batch of political hacks we have now. Yes, Trump is brash, abrasive, and and in-your-face. But one thing he also is, is direct.
John Star
Sad to hear this as it was nice to hear a lot of truth for a change. But his delivery is very crude and is doing him in, what a shame.
Joyce Flanders
Are the following things entering this country through the Mexican border?
1. drugs
2. criminals (killers, rapists)
Please answer [yes] or [no], and be sure to fill in the bubble completely.
Oscar
Regarding drugs the answer is yes, of course. But there is a more important question, why? who demands and consumes that drug? (hint: if no US citizens took drug, no Mexicans, and others, would smuggle it…yes, context matters indeed).
About the second, latest killing in the US that was widely reported in the European TVs was the one from Charleston…
Laurence Marks
What? Europeans didn’t hear about the unarmed Marines killed by a terrorist in Chattanooga on July 16? Censorship there?
Joyce Flanders
You basically just said importers of illegal drugs are excused because there is demand for their illegal product. Bias much?
Joyce Flanders
@Oscar You also made the blatantly false argument that only US Citizens take illegal drugs, while being careful to state it’s not just Mexicans that import illegal drugs.
Your words: “if no US citizens took drug, no Mexicans, and others, would smuggle it”
Do you see how clearly biased you are?
Ted
Uhm, your article states that his popularity has “taken a hit” in popularity polls. What–like the one showing that he doubled his popularity and is now leading the pack of GOP contenders by double digits? Oh, OK. Look, Naked Security, just report the news, don’t inject your bias. Well, I guess you can if you want. But then you just become like all the other media and are no different.
John Zorabedian
Thanks for your comment. We take seriously our responsibility to report the facts fairly and accurately.
Regarding opinion polls, we’ve edited the article to remove that reference.
You can get a thorough report on Mr. Trump’s recent poll numbers here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2015/07/15/trumps-popularity-spikes-among-republicans/
Robbie Mueller
vandals? why?
RocRizzo
I believe he has changed his name from Donald Trump to Donald T-Rump.
4caster
Every US presidential election must have a joke candidate. In 2008 the Republican Vice-Presidential candidate was Sarah Palin, an error of judgement that probably cost Senator John McCain the presidency.