Trump References Legend About Pershing Dipping Bullets In Pig Blood To Fight Muslims. Did It Happen?

President Trump’s Twitter provides plenty of news and comedy fodder, and on Thursday he issued a real doozy of a tweet referencing a legend that General John Pershing laced bullets in pig blood to fight Islamic terrorists.

There’s just one problem: this is a myth.

Here is Trump’s tweet:

Trump had previously discussed General Pershing in the heat of the Republican primary in February 2016: (H/T: Time)

Speaking in South Carolina ahead of the primary, Trump told his crowd that Pershing, who led U.S. troops during World War I, was a “rough guy,” according to Mother Jones. He then said that during the Moro rebellion in the Philippines (1899-1913, and Pershing served as governor of the Moro Province between 1909 and 1913), Pershing “caught 50 terrorists who did tremendous damage … and he took the 50 terrorists and he took 50 men and dipped 50 bullets in pig’s blood. You heard about that? He took 50 bullets and dipped them in pig’s blood. And he has his men load up their rifles and he lined up the 50 people and they shot 49 of those people. And the 50th person, he said, you go back to your people and you tell them what happened.”

According to Snopes, the incident that Trump describes has been an internet rumor since the 9/11 terror attacks and has even been cited by former Sen. Bob Graham (D-FL), who chaired the Senate Intelligence Committee, although Graham claimed the bullets were dipped in pig fat. But the fact-checking site was unable to find any evidence to substantiate such claims.

Pershing was involved in the Moro Province of the Philippines during the country’s transition from the 1898 Spanish-American war to political independence, which America helped facilitate. The Moros were Muslims who were against the country being occupied. Their swordsmen, Juramentados, murdered scores of Christians during this time. Snopes cites numerous Pershing biographies stating that the general was “reluctant to be responsible for any more loss of life than was necessary” and that he never actually executed any Muslims. He did, however, shower pig blood onto prisoners and then warn other Juramentados that the same would happen to them if they didn’t stop their killing spree, as they believed that being doused in pig blood would result in eternal damnation.

According to Time, there was an instance where “Pershing brought a pig’s head to a ceasefire negotiation with a Muslim leader.” American soldiers would also bury Juramentados in pig blood and with pigs themselves, although Pershing is not believed to have been associated with that. But Pershing biographers contacted by Time claimed to have no evidence that he ever committed the acts that Trump claimed.

In sum, it seems that Pershing did use the Juramentados’ religious aversion to pigs against them, but there is no evidence that he ever dipped bullets in pig blood and then shot 49 prisoners and told the 50th to warn the others about it. This seems to be typical Trump: completely overstating an incident that occurred, but there is a grain of truth in that Pershing used the Juramentados’ religious fear of pigs against them.

The problem with this is that, as is usually the case with the president, Trump’s imprecise claim forces the coverage to be about his tweet rather than Pershing’s actual actions themselves.

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