Misinformation & Disinformation in Politics and Media
“He [Georgia Governor Brian Kemp] has been calling the president, but has not been able to get him.”
“He [President Biden] just said, ‘Hey, what do you need?’”
“And I told him, you know, we got what we need. We will work through the federal process.” Kemp said Biden told him to call directly if he needed any additional resources.
“That’s a big one. And the devastation wrought by this storm is incredible. It’s so extensive, nobody thought this would be happening, especially now it’s so late in the season for the hurricanes.”
“The months of August, September, and October have significantly more hurricane activity than other months. During these months, particularly in September, ocean waters have reached their highest temperatures.”
Which Month Is the Worst for Atlantic Hurricanes?, Arnold & Itkin Law Firm
“In Springfield, [Ohio] they’re [immigrants] eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats. They’re eating… they’re eating the pets of the people that live there. This is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.”
Donald Trump, Presidential Debate, 9/10/2024
“It is disappointing that some of the narrative surrounding our city has been skewed by misinformation circulating on social media and further amplified political rhetoric in the current highly charged presidential election cycle.”
“His candidacy has inspired millions and millions of Americans raise critical issues that have been too long ignored in this country and brought together people from across the political spectrum in a positive campaign grounded in the American values of his father, Robert Kennedy, a great man. And his uncle, President John F. Kennedy. And I know that they are looking down right now and they are very, very proud of Bobby. I’m proud of Bobby, you wanna know the truth?”
Donald Trump, August 23, 2024, after RFK Jr. suspends his campaign and endorses Trump.
“Don’t waste any Republican or Conservative votes on Junior.’ He’s one of the most Liberal Lunatics ever to run for office. He caused massive high energy pricing in New York and New England. He just admitted that he was actually OK with the Vaccine. A Phony Radical Left fool whose poll numbers are TERRIBLE, and getting worse.”
Donald Trump, May 25, 2024 Truth Social post.
Five people died in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot and its immediate aftermath. One pro-Trump rioter, Ashli Babbitt, was shot and killed by police as she climbed through a broken part of a Capitol door into an area where members of Congress were sheltering from the rioters.
More importantly, Brian Sicknick, a police officer who died the day after battling the rioters, and four additional officers who responded to the riot killed themselves in the following weeks and months.
It should also be noted that Trump previously referred to Ashli Babbitt’s death on January 6th but apparently forgot that fact during his gaslighting efforts at his August 8, 2024 news conference.
Under President Trump, the U.S. became the Number One Producer of Oil and Natural Gas in the World — and we will soon be again by lifting restrictions on American Energy Production and terminating the Socialist Green New Deal. Republicans will unleash Energy Production from all sources, including nuclear, to immediately slash Inflation and power American homes, cars, and factories with reliable, abundant, and affordable Energy.
Read the document here: 2024 Republican Party Platform
The United States is already the number one producer of oil and natural gas in the world.
Since 2018, the United States has produced more crude oil than every other country.
In 2023, the United States was also the largest producer of natural gas in the world, producing over twice the amount of natural gas than Russia, the second leading producer.
While the Republican Platform mentions production from “all [energy] sources” once, it conveniently excludes two popular renewable sources, solar and wind, presumably because it does not fit into their narrative of “drill baby drill.”
“You look at our airports where flights are being delayed four days where people are pitching tents in an airport because their flight is so, you know, it’s never gonna even happen.”
“We’ve never seen anything like it. And we’ve become like, you know, we, we are a failing nation where we’ve become a third world nation in many ways. Our elections are third world in my opinion.
“Our airports are being run so badly, it’s so badly. It’s not even conceivable. The other night I had somebody going to the airport and they called up two days later to tell me that they’ve never gotten out. I said, ‘but where are you still at the airport?’ This is common now.”
It’s hard to believe that any serious person, let alone a candidate for President of the United States, would make such ridiculous claims.
For the record:
According to the Transportation Security Administration, 2023 was also the busiest year for air travel ever.
“We had the greatest economy in history. And Moody’s acknowledges that.”
Donald Trump, referring to the state of the US economy during his term, in one of many misstatements made during his interview with Time, published in April 2024.
Moody’s did not say Trump “had the greatest economy in history.” In Oct. 2019, the company’s modeling predicted that Trump would win in 2020 if the economy held up.
Time’s fact checking article of Trump’s statements during his April 2024 interview, noting over 30 misleading, incorrect or totally false claims made by Trump.
“But when you look at what happened, the extent the prosecution had to go through to line up the dominos to bring a conviction on charges that had never been brought against anybody in the state of NY, ever. I mean, Representative Schiff said the judge should impose the penalty as any other case like this would be imposed. It has never happened before. It has never even happened.”
Gov. Chris Sununu, CNN State of the Union, 6/2/2024, misinforming viewers into thinking the case against Trump for falsifying business records in New York City had never been brought against anyone before Trump.
See Survey of Past New York Felony Prosecutions for Falsifying Business Records in JustSecurity.org, which summarizes the numerous past felony charges in NYC for falsifying business records.
The new Republicans never let the facts get in the way of a good misinformation effort.
“Joe Biden’s DOJ, in their Illegal and UnConstitutional Raid of Mar-a-Lago, AUTHORIZED THE FBI TO USE DEADLY (LETHAL) FORCE.” A fundraising appeal on the Trump National Committee web page said, “BIDEN’S DOJ WAS AUTHORIZED TO SHOOT ME!”
Donald Trump Truth Social post, 5/21/2024
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“The Biden DOJ and FBI were planning to assassinate Pres Trump and gave the green light.”
Marjorie Taylor Green, Post on X, 5/21/2024
The FBI stated it “followed standard protocol in this search as we do for all search warrants, which includes a standard policy statement limiting the use of deadly force. No one ordered additional steps to be taken and there was no departure from the norm in this matter.”
FBI policy states that “Law enforcement officers of the Department of Justice may use deadly force only when necessary, that is, when the officer has a reasonable belief that the subject of such force poses an imminent danger of death or serious physical injury to the officer or to another person.”
See PolitiFact and FactCheck.org for more information.
For more information on the sad state of conservative news, see the Fox News clips on this YouTube video, starting at 3 minutes into the video clip.
“He [Michael Cohen] got in trouble. He went to jail. This has nothing to do with me. This had to do with the taxicab company that he owned, which is just something he owned – and medallions and borrowing money and a lot of things – but it had nothing to do with me”
Donald Trump, 4/22/2024
Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to eight criminal charges: five counts of tax evasion; one count of making false statements to a financial institution; one count of willfully causing an unlawful corporate contribution in breach of the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) of 1971; and one count of making an excessive campaign contribution at the request of a candidate (Trump) for the “principal purpose of influencing [the] election“.
“Just so everyone knows, especially the young people, Crooked Joe Biden is responsible for banning TikTok”
Donald Trump Truth Social Post, 4/22/2024
The current Tik Tok ban legislation is bipartisan.
Also, from President Trump’s 8/6/2020 Executive Order banning Tik Tok before it was overturned in court:
“Specifically, the spread in the United States of mobile applications developed and owned by companies in the People’s Republic of China (China) continues to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and economy of the United States. At this time, action must be taken to address the threat posed by one mobile application in particular, TikTok.”
See President Trump’s August 7, 2020 Executive Order Banning Tik Tok.
“Stupid Jimmy Kimmel, who still hasn’t recovered from his horrendous performance and big ratings drop as Host of The Academy Awards, especially when he showed he suffered from TDS, commonly known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME, to the entire World by reading on air my TRUTH about how bad a job he was doing that night”
Donald Trump Truth Social Post, 4/17/2024
The 2024 Oscars drew 21 million viewers across ABC, Hulu, Digital Platforms, marking the show’s biggest multi-platform audience since 2020, and a 5% increase in viewership from 2023.
Nielsen Ratings
“I’m incredibly thrilled that we are going to have a real law that’s already on the books. I believe it’s ARS-13-3602. So it will prohibit abortion in Arizona except to save the life of the mother. And I think we’re going to be paving the way and setting course for other states to follow.”
Kari Lake supporting an 1860’s AZ law banning abortion, The Conservative Circus, 6/23/2022
Kari Lake is personally pro-life. Her position on a federal abortion ban is clear: she opposes it. Just like President Trump, Kari is opposed to the territorial law and is calling on the State Legislature [Arizona] to fix the issue.
Kari Lake Spokesperson, 4/9/2024, after the April 2024 Arizona Supreme Court upheld the ARS-13-3602 abortion law.
“I have not examined the evidence in detail, but reasonable people, including Trump opponents, tell me there is little evidence of a true insurrection. They observe that the protestors carried no weapons, had no plans or ability to seize the reins of government, and that Trump himself had urged them to protest ‘peacefully.’ birth — is unacceptable, and almost everyone agrees with that.”
RFK Jr. Statement, 4/5/2024
A statement from the U.S. Attorney’s office on April 5, 2024 said 129 defendants charged in the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol attack were charged with “using a deadly or dangerous weapon or causing serious bodily injury to an officer.”
See PolitiFact Fact Checking article regarding the obviously false statement. It is also disturbing that any adult alive during this event could claim they do not have enough evidence to form their own opinion about whether the event was an insurrection. There was abundant video evidence, in some cases filmed by the rioters, played on most reputable news outlets continuously for months after the incident.