Altered Facebook news headline jolts Virginia GOP governor primary

RICHMOND, Va. — An altered Facebook headline on a newspaper story involving a statue of Robert E. Lee has blown up into a major sore point in the Virginia GOP primary for governor — another instance of politicians or their allies changing headlines to suit their own purposes on that platform.

Virginia’s governor’s race is being watched nationally as a possible early referendum on President Donald Trump. A group aligned with gubernatorial hopeful Corey Stewart, a firebrand conservative Trump backer, has weaponized a fake headline to attack rival Ed Gillespie, the GOP establishment’s pick for governor. At issue: Gillespie’s level of support for Virginia’s Confederate monuments.

Stewart pledged no Confederate monuments would be removed if elected, staunchly supportive of Southern history. After Stewart protested before Charlottesville’s Lee statue in February, the Washington Post wrote a story called “Protesters mob provocative Va. governor candidate as he defends Confederate statue.”

A conservative nonprofit with ties to Stewart campaign aides — the Conservative Response Team — subsequently posted and promoted a Facebook post linking to the article but with a fake headline: “Gillespie: I’m OK with Charlottesville Taking Down the General Lee Monument.” The post makes it look as if that were the Washington Post’s headline.

In fact, Gillespie has said he doesn’t support moving the statue and thinks local officials who approved moving it should be voted out of office. Gillespie also said it’s an issue to be handled locally.

Rick Shaftan is a Republican operative who runs the Conservative Response Team’s Facebook page and altered the headline. He said Gillespie’s trying to have it both ways and the changed headline reflects that.