Public officials’ lives can be less than rosy.
Congressman Joe Wilson of Springdale is a recent example of how pranksters take advantage of them.
The long-time Republican congressman was invited to a TV interview with what he was told was Israeli anti-terror expert Col. Erran Morad.
“The request was to thank me for being a friend of Israel,” Wilson said. 
“I was targeted due to my strong support of Israel and my open door office policy. 
“What I told this group was that I’ve worked to strengthen our relationship with Israel and I will continue to work with President Donald Trump to do so.” 
What Wilson didn’t know was that the Israeli anti-terror expert was TV comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
Cohen has been making a new TV program, “Who Is America?” on Showtime.
The comedian has played such fictional characters as“Borat” and “Bruno.” 
During the interview, “Morad” discussed an Israeli program to arm young students as a deterrent to school shootings.
Cohen said the Kinderguardians program’s purpose was to arm children from the ages of 3 to 16 years old in Israel.
“A 3-year-old cannot defend itself from an assault rifle by throwing a Hello Kitty pencil case at it,” Wilson said in a clip from the show.
“Our founding fathers did not put an age limit on the Second Amendment.”
Cohen also has fooled former Sen. Trent Lott, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – all Republicans who said they approved of the Kinderguardians program.
Wilson said, “Public officials of both parties, like everyone, can be the target of practical jokes.”