On Thursday, President Donald Trump appeared to insinuate that the way to stop Islamic-related extremism is to shoot terrorists with bullets covered in pigs’ blood.

Of course, he didn’t come out and say those exact words, but he did say that we should “study what General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught.” And that’s exactly what U.S. Gen. John “Black Jack” Pershing did to eliminate terrorism in the Philippines in the early 1900s.

However, there’s just one problem with Trump’s tweet: there is no evidence Pershing ever did this. In fact, for the most part, Pershing tried to avoid violence. He would negotiate with local Muslim leaders, and he accepted certain practices that conflicted with the Western way of life.

Apparently, Trump didn’t bother to check any of this before firing off his tweet about Pershing hours after there was a terrorist attack in Barcelona, Spain.

This isn’t the first time President Trump has spoken highly of John Pershing. During a 2016 rally in South Carolina, this is what Trump said: “They were having terrorism problems, just like we do. And he caught 50 terrorists who [had done] tremendous damage and killed many people.”

Elaborating further, Trump said, “And he took the 50 terrorists, and he took 50 men and he dipped 50 bullets in pigs’ blood – you heard that, right? He took 50 bullets, and he dipped them in pigs’ blood. And he had his men load his 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.”

“And for 25 years, there wasn’t a problem,” Trump said. “OK? Twenty-five years, there wasn’t a problem.”

While this might have been a useful tactic back in the 1900s, it’s fair to say that such actions in this day and age would result in controversy and even more violence.

Featured Image: twitter