It’s no secret that President Donald Trump clearly has reached CNN’s last nerve, zinging the network Tuesday with a tweet about three network employees resigning after being forced to retract a story.
Trump might have hit CNN while it was down, but little did he know the Washington Post was standing ready to tag in and deliver this stunning death blow: it turns out that Trump has been promoting fake news for who knows how long — by displaying those novelty magazine covers at some of his golf clubs.
A Time Magazine with Trump on the cover hangs in his golf clubs. It’s fake. https://t.co/GbabQP5hXQ pic.twitter.com/EFTEcyasRE
— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) June 27, 2017
Whoa.
Trump in the AM: WaPo is "fake news"
WaPo in the PM: https://t.co/FWj8cN1aQH— Ishaan Tharoor (@ishaantharoor) June 27, 2017
Trump is a purveyor of his own fake news: A phony Trump Time cover hangs in his golf clubs, @fahrenthold uncovers https://t.co/Quz2KNwbyK
— Philip Rucker (@PhilipRucker) June 27, 2017
Off with his head. Probably put there by the club pro.
— Josey Wales (@Reaganite8) June 27, 2017
Hey, I got one of those when I was 15 at the Boardwalk too!
— Chris Vitali (@chrisvitali) June 27, 2017
He also has one where he and his wife are in the old west. They got it made at the mall when he got the Time one made.
— Jane Lemonhead (@Soul_Mining) June 27, 2017
Isn't this from one of those amusement booths where you can put yourself on any number of magazine covers? So this is WAPO news? HA
— GeneEverett (@geneeverettshow) June 27, 2017
For real though, the story comes to us courtesy of David A. Fahrenthold, who won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting for his “dogged reporting of Trump’s philanthropy.” Call it a hunch, but we’re guessing the committee will likely overlook this scoop on the fake Time cover, framed and hung “in at least four of President Trump’s golf clubs”:
The Time cover is a fake.
There was no March 1, 2009, issue of Time Magazine. And there was no issue at all in 2009 that had Trump on the cover.
In fact, the cover on display at Trump’s clubs, observed recently by a reporter visiting one of the properties, contains several small but telling mistakes. Its red border is skinnier than that of a genuine Time cover, and, unlike the real thing, there is no thin white border next to the red. The Trump cover’s secondary headlines are stacked on the right side — on a real Time cover, they would go across the top.
But … the World’s Greatest Dad T-Shirt the kids handed over last Father’s Day is real … right?
oh my god THE FAKE NEWS IS COMING FROM INSIDE THE TRUMP GOLF CLUB https://t.co/vciR5hmmmD
— Carlos Lozada (@CarlosLozadaWP) June 27, 2017
This is hilarious https://t.co/meMhGs1Ewl
— McKay Coppins (@mckaycoppins) June 27, 2017
Not to give Rosie O’Donnell any ideas, but just suppose a Hillary supporter had wandered though the building last year, glanced over the fake Time cover, and decided to change his vote — there’d really be no option but to render the election null and void and make everyone vote again.
You're sick. This obsession is unhealthy. @maggieNYT
— Martina (@martina__1974) June 27, 2017
Omg you got him now!!!!
— Hentai Eichenwald (@EvanG56785636) June 27, 2017
Cut @realDonaldTrump some slack. Weren't we all Person of the Year in 2006?: pic.twitter.com/sRN98gWIGe
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) June 27, 2017
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Update:
Farenthold’s exhaustive and award-winning tracking of Donald Trump’s charitable donations didn’t manage to derail the president’s campaign, but the fake magazine cover piece has already produced results.
UPDATE: @time has asked the @realdonaldtrump's businesses to remove the phony magazine covers from their walls. https://t.co/beJXOTrevb
— David Fahrenthold (@Fahrenthold) June 27, 2017
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Related:
OOPS! Washington Post Express mans up to error on women’s rights cover https://t.co/Ix5SkdlwnA
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 5, 2017