President Donald Trump is no stranger to antagonistic media figures, often
calling them out directly or through members of his administration.
As he reaches the 100th day of his second administration, here is a look back
at some of the hoaxes, misleading headlines, and "fake news" stories that have
circulated since his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
The Trump Rapid Response team kicked off the administration's second week with
a list of several hoaxes that had already taken root across multiple platforms
and outlets.
The first one involved regular Trump-bashers Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) and Rep.
Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), who claimed, along with several media outlets, that
President Trump was going to gut Medicaid and other assistance programs under
the guise of cutting wasteful and fraudulent spending.
FACT: Individual assistance programs -- Social Security, Medicare,
Medicaid, SNAP, etc. -- are explicitly excluded, as was made clear
by @PressSec and OMB. Only unnecessary spending -- DEI, Green New
Scam, NGOs that undermine the national interest -- are included in
the directive. pic.twitter.com/DZrUQAXVns
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 29, 2025
According to the Office of Management and Budget, however, Trump's plan to cut
waste, fraud, and abuse from government spending would not touch programs that
provide "direct benefits to Americans" such as Social Security, Medicare,
Medicaid, and SNAP, among others.
The second was a claim perpetuated by Chicago Public Schools and Governor JB
Pritzker (D-IL) that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents had
raided an elementary school. Even the Chicago Tribune ran a story on the
alleged "raid" without first verifying the veracity of the claim.
FACT: It was actually the U.S. Secret Service investigating a
threat unrelated to immigration. pic.twitter.com/FlPPV0TLmy
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 29, 2025
The so-called "raid" turned out to be a Secret Service investigation into a
potential threat that had nothing to do with immigration.
The third was an attempt to undermine the still pending confirmation of Health
and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and alleged that a
"physicians advocacy group" had come out in opposition to the nomination.
FACT: The "advocacy group" is really an astroturfed partisan
organization funded by prominent left-wing donors -- and accepts
fake signatures.
https://t.co/ZIxBARZ9v7 -- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 29, 2025
That advocacy group turned out to be an astroturfed organization backed by
left-wing activist and billionaire Bill Gates.
By the time Kennedy's first hearing on Capitol Hill came around, media outlets
were prepared -- they even sent reporters to cover the hearing with their
negative headlines prewritten before the questions started to fly.
FACT: This has been repeatedly debunked by Kennedy himself --
describing himself as neither "anti-vaccine or anti-industry,"
but "pro-safety."
In reality, like Pres. Trump, he simply wants to enable Americans
to make informed medical decisions for themselves and their families.
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 29, 2025
Trump took a HuffPost reporter to task on Air Force One over claims that his
administration would ignore Supreme Court rulings they did not like: "I don't
know even what you're talking about. Neither do you. Who are you with?"
"HuffPost, Sir," was the reply.
"No wonder. I thought they died."
President Trump demolishes Fake News "reporter" @svdate on Air
Force One:
POTUS: "I don't know even what you're talking about. Neither do you.
Who are you with?"@svdate: "HuffPost, sir."
POTUS: "No wonder. I thought they died." pic.twitter.com/kNB0359aJA
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 9, 2025
Senator Amy Klobuchar claimed -- with no resistance from CNN anchor Dana Bash
-- that the Trump administration was putting a stop to Head Start and
terminating cancer research.
Amy Klobuchar claims the Trump Administration is "stopping Head
Start" (a complete lie) and cutting cancer research (also a complete
lie).
Predictably, zero pushback from Fake News CNN.
pic.twitter.com/Q18gxcCU8Y
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 16, 2025
Trump took aim at ABC News during the swearing-in ceremony for Commerce
Secretary Howard Lutnick, asking first, "Who do you work for?"
"ABC News."
"No wonder," Trump shot back. "I have, today, the highest poll numbers I've
ever had ... They like the job I'm doing... We're finding billions and billions
of dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse."
President Trump SHUTS DOWN Fake News @ABC reporter:
"Who do you work for?"
"ABC News."
"No wonder... I have, today, the highest poll numbers I've ever had...
They like the job I'm doing... We're finding billions and billions of
dollars in waste, fraud, and abuse." [flames]
pic.twitter.com/ut7XvmbY4Y
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 21, 2025
In late February, Reuters ran with a story claiming that Trump's foreign aid
freeze had stopped the progress of a United Nations program that was intended
to help stop the flow of fentanyl and other illegal drugs from crossing the
southern border.
US President Donald Trump's sweeping foreign aid freeze has stalled
a United Nations program in Mexico aimed at stopping imported
fentanyl chemicals from reaching the country's drug cartels,
according to eight people familiar with the situation
https://t.co/UpDolZ2VUa pic.twitter.com/vpq6av1VfU
-- Reuters (@Reuters) February 24, 2025
Trump's team said otherwise: "Fake News: The State Department is actually
trying to expand the initiative. Stop lying."
Fake News. The State Department is actually trying to expand the
initiative.
Stop lying.
https://t.co/AXWLvI1j1Z -- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) February 25, 2025
CNN attempted to "fact check" a claim from the Department of Government
Efficiency (DOGE) that under former President Joe Biden, $8 million had been
dumped into a study that attempted to make mice transgender. Trump's team
responded with receipts.
The Fake News losers at CNN tried to fact check President Trump
saying Biden spent $8 million on "making mice transgender," but
President Trump was right (as usual).
FACT: Under the Biden Administration, the National Institutes of
Health doled outmillions of dollars in taxpayer-funded grants for
institutions across the country to perform transgender experiments
on mice.
$455,000: "A Mouse Model to Test the Effects of Gender-affirming
Hormone Therapy on HIV Vaccine-induced Immune Responses"
$2,500,000: "Reproductive Consequences of Steroid Hormone
Administration" -- "These mice manifest defects in ovarian
architecture and have altered folliculogenesis."
$299,940: "Gender-Affirming Testosterone Therapy on Breast Cancer
Risk and Treatment Outcomes" -- "We will compare the incidences and
tumor specific survival in female mice (intact) and oophorectomized
female mice receiving TT with their respective counterparts that do
not receive TT."
$735,113: "Microbiome mediated effects of gender affirming hormone
therapy in mice"
$1,200,000: "Androgen effects on the reproductive neuroendocrine
axis" -- "Aim 2 utilizes transgenic mice to test whether male-level
androgens acting via AR specifically in kisspeptin neurons are
necessary and/or sufficient for androgen inhibition of in vivo LH
pulse parameters, including pulse frequency, and the estrogen-induced
LH surge."
$3,100,000: "Gonadal hormones as mediators of sex and gender
influences in asthma" -- "We will study the contributions of
estrogens to HDM-induced asthma outcomes using male and female
gonadectomized mice treated with estradiol..."
TOTAL: $8,290,053
The Fake News losers at CNN tried to fact check President Trump
saying Biden spent $8 million on "making mice transgender," but
President Trump was right (as usual).
FACT: Under the Biden Administration, the National Institutes of
Health doled outmillions of dollars in...
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 5, 2025
CNN was forced to "update" the story.
UPDATE: The Fake News losers at CNN have been forced to update
their "fact check" in disgrace.
https://t.co/BxuGFEh0nG pic.twitter.com/57oTkvwYMM
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 6, 2025
After multiple outlets published stories on a knock-down-drag-out fight between
Elon Musk and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Trump shut down an NBC reporter
who asked about it. "No clash. I was there," Trump said. "You're just a
troublemaker."
President Trump shuts down an NBC reporter for pushing the Fake
News that there was a "clash" between Secretary Marco Rubio and
Elon Musk:
"No clash. I was there. You're just a troublemaker."
pic.twitter.com/e7gUy8HRMx
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 7, 2025
Bloomberg ran a story on Musk, claiming that he planned to "target" programs
like Social Security and Medicare for massive spending cuts.
Elon Musk called entitlement spending -- benefits including Social
Security and Medicare -- key targets for cuts, which contradicts
President Donald Trump's pledge to not touch those programs
https://t.co/Y4hxGWmrZK -- Bloomberg (@business) March 10, 2025
The Trump administration pushed back, noting that Musk was specifically seeking
out fraud, waste, and abuse within those programs just as he was across other
areas of the federal government.
Lying hacks. He was talking about waste, fraud, and abuse -- of which
there is $500+ billion every year.
This is why the Fake News is less popular than a root canal. All you
do is LIE.
https://t.co/izq6MqnpPG pic.twitter.com/JG0oFoPJNW
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 11, 2025
Then all hell broke loose over a Signal chat where key members of the
administration discussed retaliatory attacks on Houthi terrorists -- a chat in
which Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic was inadvertently included. Trump was
pressured by Democrats and media to fire Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth or
National Security Adviser Mike Waltz -- from whose phone Goldberg was added --
but he shot that idea down: "I don't fire people over fake news and witch
hunts."
An internal investigation revealed that an iPhone algorithm was likely the
reason Goldberg was accidentally added to the chat -- and all parties involved
stated that while the attacks were discussed in some detail, no sensitive or
classified information was disclosed.
.@POTUS: "I don't fire people because of fake news and because of
witch hunts." ?? pic.twitter.com/hv8ueZ5NO6
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 30, 2025
Democrats and media outlets then took up the cause of deported Salvadoran
citizen and MS-13 member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, often referring to him simply as
a "Maryland man." Border Czar Tom Homan set the record straight on that case.
.@RealTomHoman cooks Fake News CNN's @kaitlancollins (many such
cases) on Kilmar Abrego Garcia:
"Two different federal judges said he's an MS-13 member. A police
department said he's an MS-13 member. ICE data shows he's an MS-13
member. El Salvador said he's an MS-13 member."
pic.twitter.com/vUYbx4uor5
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 18, 2025
Then reports of a second Signal chat group -- which allegedly included
Hegseth's wife, brother, and attorney - began to circulate. Despite the fact
that none of the reports included any evidence that Hegseth had discussed
sensitive information in that chat group -- which he accessed through his
private phone -- NPR still ran a story claiming that it was all too much and
Trump was actively looking for someone to replace Hegseth.
The White House nixed that report in short order: WRONG. Fake News!"
WRONG. Fake News!
https://t.co/VEKtGdn9oK -- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 21, 2025
Following his highly-publicized Easter-weekend visit to Rome, Vice President JD
Vance was attacked for breaking "the rules" and taking a photo in the Sistine
Chapel. Even though The Daily Beast included the fact that he had permission to
do so in an article about him, the outlet still ran with a headline that read,
"JD Vance Ripped For Embarrassing Gaffe During Vatican Visit."
"These Fake News losers buried this in the 14th paragraph," the Trump team shot
back, referencing the outlet's admission that he'd been permitted to take the
photo.
These Fake News losers buried this in the 14th paragraph
https://t.co/IDgxt4I3dZ pic.twitter.com/D3JxsI0fgB
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 24, 2025
Rubio addressed the latest misleading story during a Sunday appearance on NBC's
"Meet the Press," where host Kristen Welker claimed -- as did her counterparts
on other networks - that the Trump administration had deported three minor
children, aged two, four, and seven, who were American citizens.
"Three U.S. citizens ages four, seven, and two, were not deported -- their
mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went
with their mothers!" Rubio explained.
.@SecRubio nukes @kwelkernbc on the latest misleading Fake News
hoax: "Three U.S. citizens ages 4, 7, and 2 were not deported -- their
mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The
children went with their mothers! ... The parents make that choice."
pic.twitter.com/IJt1Lz1xWN
-- Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) April 27, 2025
Here's to the next 100 days!
Trump's First 100 Days: A Study In "Fake News", Hoaxes, And Misleading Headlines