The headlines were all over the place this weekend about whether or not the Democratic National Committee omitted the words "under God" from the pledge of allegiance at any point during last week's virtual convention.
Our verdict? Maybe the phrase wasn't omitted on paper or on the main convention stage, but there were at least two instances when DNC leaders took it upon themselves to delete two of the most important words in the pledge. The Trump campaign has the evidence.
The first instance occurred during the LGBTQ Caucus meeting when the speaker reciting the pledge awkwardly paused at the moment when "under God" is usually uttered. See for yourself below.
If you're denying that the Democrats omitted "under God" from the Pledge at their convention, you should probably watch this ?? pic.twitter.com/OuQbDhRFYd
— Abigail Marone (@abigailmarone) August 22, 2020
Those two words were also MIA during the Muslim Delegates Assembly meeting. Here was delegate AJ Durrani's abridged version:
"I pledge allegiance, to the flag, of the United States of America. And to the republic, for which it stands, one nation...indivisible, with liberty and justice for all."
That interpretation of the pledge was shared by the president himself.
Now they’re trying to deny this, but they can’t! https://t.co/vNW3I3pPNK
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2020
Trump concluded that conservatives were right.
Two Democrat Caucus Meetings removed “UNDER GOD” from the Pledge of Allegiance. It sounded not only strange, but terrible. That’s where they’re coming from!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 23, 2020
Still, because the phrase was omitted from caucus meetings and not from the main stage during the four-night convention, media outlets like USA Today rated the claim "partly false."
But pushing God out of the party is becoming a pattern. During the 2016 convention, Democrats booed convention chairman Antonio Villaraigosa when he declared that the "ays" have it and that God would remain in their platform, and that they would still declare Jerusalem the capital of Israel. If you listen to the audio, it was not clear that the "ays" had it.