Tag

#disinformation

4 incidents

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

The Springfield Pet-Eating Hoax: A False Claim Against Haitian Immigrants, Followed by a Wave of Bomb Threats

Trump repeated a debunked rumour that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were eating pets. In the days that followed, the city's schools and public buildings were repeatedly evacuated over hoax bomb threats, KKK flyers appeared, and the Republican mayor blamed federal politicians' words. Trump then promised to strip the community's legal status and deport them.

Grade 2 of 5: Major Abuse of Power

Sharpiegate: Trump Altered Official Hurricane Map with Sharpie, Pressured NOAA Scientists

Trump's September 1 tweet falsely included Alabama in Hurricane Dorian's path. The National Weather Service in Birmingham, Alabama, issued a correction saying Alabama was not at risk. Trump then displayed an Oval Office map showing the altered cone reaching into Alabama. Multiple officials at NOAA described feeling pressured not to contradict the president. The New York Times reported that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross threatened firings if the contradiction was not resolved; the Commerce Department denied that Ross threatened to fire any NOAA staff. An unsigned statement supporting Trump's position was issued by NOAA over scientists' objections. A formal Inspector General investigation was opened.

Grade 1 of 5: Significant Democratic Concern

Inauguration Crowd Lies: The First Day and the War on Truth

Trump demanded his Press Secretary go before the press to insist crowd comparisons showing his inauguration was smaller than Obama's were dishonest — a claim contradicted by photographic evidence, aerial comparisons and Metro ridership figures (the National Park Service does not publish crowd estimates). The next morning Trump personally called the acting National Park Service director to request additional photographs; documents released in 2018 showed a government photographer cropped the new images, at Trump's request, to make the crowd look larger. Counselor Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer by coining the phrase 'alternative facts.' The incident, on the first full day of the administration, set the template for four years of routine government deception.

Outside the grading scale: Pre-Office Conduct

Birther Campaign: Five-Year Campaign Questioning Obama's U.S. Birth, Racist Delegitimization

The birther conspiracy theory — the claim that Obama was born in Kenya or elsewhere outside the U.S. — had no factual basis. Hawaii state officials repeatedly confirmed the birth certificate's authenticity. Obama released both a short-form and long-form birth certificate. Federal courts dismissed challenges to Obama's eligibility. The theory persisted in certain quarters as a form of racial delegitimization of the first Black president. Trump became its most prominent mainstream advocate, using it to build his political profile before his 2016 presidential campaign. Trump's 2016 acknowledgment that Obama was born in the U.S. came without apology and included the false claim that Clinton had started the birther controversy.