--- title: What Bowling Green Massacre? Twitter Mocks Kellyanne Conway description: Social media users ruthlessly mocked President Trump's advisor for citing a made-up terrorist attack in support of barring refugees from U.S. entry canonical: https://time.com/4659303/kellyanne-conway-bowling-green-massacre-donald-trump/ author: Zamira Rahim article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-02-03T11:40:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-13T12:20:56.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Twitter Mocks Kellyanne Conway's False 'Bowling Green Massacre’ Comments og:description: Conway made the claims in an interview with MSNBC og:url: https://time.com/4659303/kellyanne-conway-bowling-green-massacre-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2be23d3768c9e0a/6988b8abe20a879ac7a93ffe/gettyimages-632381476.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Kellyanne Conway Speaks To Morning Shows From Front Lawn Of White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Twitter Mocks Kellyanne Conway's False 'Bowling Green Massacre’ Comments twitter:description: Conway made the claims in an interview with MSNBC twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2be23d3768c9e0a/6988b8abe20a879ac7a93ffe/gettyimages-632381476.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Twitter Mocks Kellyanne Conway's False 'Bowling Green Massacre’ Comments > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zamira Rahim](https://time.com/author/zamira-rahim/) ## Zamira Rahim Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:20 PM UTCPublished: Feb 3, 2017 11:40 AM UTC  Counselor to President, Kellyanne Conway, prepares to appear on the Sunday morning show Meet The Press January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. Counselor to President, Kellyanne Conway, prepares to appear on the Sunday morning show Meet The Press January 22, 2017 in Washington, DC. Mark Wilson—Getty Images by [Zamira Rahim](https://time.com/author/zamira-rahim/) ## Zamira Rahim Updated: Dec 13, 2023 12:20 PM UTCPublished: Feb 3, 2017 11:40 AM UTC Kellyanne Conway[ cited a terrorist attack that never happened ](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/02/03/kellyanne-conway-cites-bowling-green-massacre-that-never-happened-to-defend-travel-ban/?utm%5Fterm=.38388e6224cb)in defense of President Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven predominately Muslim countries and Twitter users won’t let her forget it. The counselor to President Trump made the claim in an interview with [MSNBC’s Chris Matthews](http://www.msnbc.com/hardball), saying that “most people” did not know about the “Bowling Green Massacre” masterminded by two Iraqi refugees because of a lack of media coverage, the Washington _Post_ reports. No terrorist attack has taken place at Bowling Green, Ky., though the Post suggests that Conway was referring to two Iraqi refugees [who were arrested in 201](https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/former-iraqi-terrorists-living-kentucky-sentenced-terrorist-activities)1 for trying to send money and weapons to Al-Qaeda in Iraq. The men had been living in Bowling Green and after their arrest it emerged they had taken part in terrorist activities in Iraq, not the U.S. Conway appeared to indirectly apologize for the incident on Twitter Friday morning, writing, “Honest mistakes abound.” > [](https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/status/827514065065013248) She also said she “meant to say Bowling Green terrorists” instead of “Bowling Green massacre.” > [](https://twitter.com/KellyannePolls/status/827505588808667136) Conway has previously said that White House press secretary Sean Spicer was using “[alternative facts”,](http://time.com/4642689/kellyanne-conway-sean-spicer-donald-trump-alternative-facts/) when falsely claiming President Trump’s inaugural crowds were “the largest audience” to witness an inauguration. Twitter users were quick to jump on Conway’s new “alternative” fact, with lots linking it to [President Trump’s apparent confusion](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2017/02/02/trump-implied-frederick-douglass-was-alive-the-abolitionists-family-offered-a-history-lesson/?utm%5Fterm=.d2c265ddc452) over who Frederick Douglass was. Here are some of the best reactions: > [](https://twitter.com/fordm/status/827369735415275521) > [](https://twitter.com/CitizenSullivan/status/827362787668197378) > [](https://twitter.com/justinshanes/status/827402179963080705) > [](https://twitter.com/natasharothwell/status/827393205372981250) > [](https://twitter.com/MichaelBeeman/status/827379763270475776) > [](https://twitter.com/MikeDrucker/status/827369662937657347) > [](https://twitter.com/chrislhayes/status/827381759964704768) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4659303/kellyanne-conway-bowling-green-massacre-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4659303/kellyanne-conway-bowling-green-massacre-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Twitter Mocks Kellyanne Conway's False 'Bowling Green Massacre’ Comments","datePublished":"2017-02-03T11:40:40.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-13T12:20:56.000Z","description":"There is no such thing","url":"https://time.com/4659303/kellyanne-conway-bowling-green-massacre-donald-trump/","keywords":["White House","Newsfeed","twitter","Donald Trump","kellyanne conway","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2be23d3768c9e0a/6988b8abe20a879ac7a93ffe/gettyimages-632381476.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zamira Rahim","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zamira-rahim/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf2be23d3768c9e0a/6988b8abe20a879ac7a93ffe/gettyimages-632381476.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Kellyanne Conway Speaks To Morning Shows From Front Lawn Of White House","caption":"Kellyanne Conway Speaks To Morning Shows From Front Lawn Of White House","creditText":"Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4659303/kellyanne-conway-bowling-green-massacre-donald-trump/","name":"Twitter Mocks Kellyanne Conway's False 'Bowling Green Massacre’ Comments"}}]}] ```