The fake news brigade turned a joke into news last week.
A Fox News clip that appeared to show President Donald Trump flickering the White House lights on and off upon request was promoted by liberal mainstream media as authentic when, in fact, it was a joke.
The prank started when “Fox and Friends” co-host Steve Doocy claimed that he had asked President Trump to blink the lights on and off to signal that he was watching the show that morning.
CNN’s Chris Cuomo: 12-year-old girls who don’t want to see penises in locker rooms are intolerant
“According to a report, Donald Trump only watches the 7 o’clock hour of Fox & Friends,” Doocy joked.
A video clip posted on Twitter by Harlan Hill, a former Democratic strategist who supports Trump, appears to show Trump complying with the request.
This is too funny… the @FoxandFriends team said on air:
Hey @realDonaldTrump, if you're watching, turn some lights on and off!
Well.. pic.twitter.com/Rdiu5N7tfX
— HARLAN Z. HILL 🇺🇸 (@Harlan) January 27, 2017
Hill’s clip did not show the end of the segment, where Doocy revealed that the entire segment was a joke.
“It was a video effect, we didn’t actually do that,” Doocy told his TV audience.
Unfortunately, the fake news tweet was retweeted and liked thousands of times on Twitter, with many liberal media reporters reacting as if the video were real.
Reporters from leftist media outlets like Politico and the BBC were quick to conclude the video was genuine without even bothering to confirm its authenticity.
Most reporters deleted their tweets after learning they were again pushing fake news, but some still have their fake news tweet up.
Where we are: Fox News asked President Trump to flash the lights in the White House this AM if he was watching.
— Josh Dawsey (@jdawsey1) January 27, 2017
tell me this isn't real! I want to believe this is fake news, but suspect it isn't https://t.co/SVo1rKsD4d
— Jon Sopel (@BBCJonSopel) January 27, 2017
While the incident seems funny, it spotlights liberal media’s intense bias to believe negative rumors about President Trump that undermine his authority and credibility — without fact-checking the rumors first.
One glaring example is the fake news report circulated by Time magazine reporter Zeke Miller, who thought he had a “gotcha!” moment when he gleefully tweeted that Trump had removed a bust of Martin Luther King Jr. from the Oval Office.
There was just one problem: The report was totally false. The bust had never been removed.
Thanks to White House Chief of Staff for this wonderful picture of the MLK bust in the oval pic.twitter.com/Lzgj6RljvI
— Kayleigh McEnany 45 Archived (@PressSec45) January 21, 2017
President Trump was appalled by how quickly mainstream media ran with the false story without even trying to confirm it. And he knows exactly why they did it.
“They’re not saying the bust is taken out, what they’re saying is I’m a racist,” Trump said. “That’s a very serious charge. The bust was never moved. I have great respect for Dr. Martin Luther King.”
Fortunately, President Trump knows the leftist media is out to get him and he’s prepared to call out their fake news. “Much of the media — not all of it — is very dishonest,” he said. “They make things up.”
Anti-Trumper Ben Stein slams CNN during CNN interview: Stop lying about Trump!
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