Ivanka Trump is being trolled online for misquoting Albert Einstein in an old regrettable tweet.
Back in 2013, the daughter of US President Trump shared a quote on her social media account which she attributed to the renowned physicist that read: “If the facts don’t fit the theory, change the facts.”
Except, as Twitter has helpfully pointed out, Einstein didn’t exactly say that.
US author Colin Dickey brought the tweet to the forefront of the internet’s attention by sharing it and dismissing that Einstein had ever said such a thing.
The tweet has since gone viral, with many commenting how hilariously unfortunate such a phrase is in the age of “alternative facts”, a term unexpectedly introduced to the world by senior White House adviser Kellyanne Conway.
To be fair to Ivanka, the true origin and context of the quote is actually quite difficult to pin down.
While BrainyQuote attributes the exact wording to the genius, numerous other sites and forums have discussed the likelihood that the phrase was intended by Einstein to provide a sarcastic insight into scientists who let “pride overrule honesty” by tampering with data, or is a summarisation of things he did say construed as a direct quote.
Either way, people are having a lot of fun with it and are getting creative with their own historical *quotes*.
Newly appointed White House head of communications Anthony Scaramucci also recently had his own misfortune with incorrect quotes coming back to haunt him.
He disclosed he would be deleting old tweets over the weekend but failed to take down one with an inspirational, but fake, quote supposedly from US author Mark Twain back in 2012, and so Twitter ridicule ensued.