President Donald Trump first directed the term "fake news" toward CNN when running for office in 2016.
Since then, he hasn’t been shy about using it whenever the occasion calls for it.
News outlets seem to especially promote fake news to either make Trump look bad, or make his opponents look good.
The Tennessee Star published a report prepared by Just Facts, listing 50 fake news stories promoted by news media throughout 2024. From that we compiled our own list of the top eight — four denigrating President Trump, and four promoting his political opponents.
Fake News Making Trump Look Bad:
'Bloodbath'
ABC News reported that President Trump warned that "It's gonna be a bloodbath for the country," if he isn’t reelected president in November.
Three months later ABC co-host George Stephanopoulos blamed Trump’s rhetoric, particularly his "bloodbath" remark, for the Butler, Pennsylvania assassination attempt nearly taking Trump’s life.
However, Trump never used the term literally.
At an Ohio campaign rally last March, Trump used the term "bloodbath" to describe the economic effects on the U.S. auto industry in the event Biden won a second term.
Trump noted that China was building an auto plant in Mexico and promised to attach a 100% tariff on Chinese cars built there. Believing that Biden wouldn’t take any action in opposition, Trump predicted a bloodbath for the U.S. auto industry if Biden were reelected.
'Firing Squad'
In a story headlined, "Trump Fantasizes About Shooting Female Rival in the Face," The Daily Beast reported that Trump said he would place "Liz Cheney in front of a firing squad."
But what Trump actually said was that Cheney wouldn’t be the "radical war hawk" both she and her father is if she were serving in combat "with nine barrels shooting at her" instead of "sitting in Washington" safely behind a desk and ordering other Americans to face those same enemy rifles.
Civil Rights
In an "exclusive" story, Axios reported that, according to Trump’s "close allies," he intended to "dramatically change the government’s interpretation of Civil Rights-era laws to focus on 'anti-white racism' rather than discrimination against people of color."
However, Democrats are the ones who changed that legislation to suit their own needs.
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 made it illegal to "discriminate against any individual" because of their “race, color, religion, sex, or national origin."
The Biden administration twisted this to include sexual identity in Title IX protections, which resulted in discrimination against actual biological women.
Trump brought normalcy back to Title IX during his first days back in office.
Migrants Are 'Animals'
Reuters reported in early April that Trump referred to migrants as "animals" and "not human" during a speech he’d delivered in Michigan the day before.
However, Trump was actually talking about illegal aliens who are also "murderers, drug dealers and terrorists" who come here and commit violent crime.
He said they are often released from foreign prisons and sent to the United States.
In particular, Trump referred to José Antonio Ibarra, who was arrested in late February for brutally murdering Georgia nursing student Laken Riley.
Fake News Propping Up Trump’s Political Opponents:
Kamala’s 'Tax Cuts'
CNN reported that Kamala Harris had proposed a "new plan to provide tax relief for more than 100 million middle-class and lower-income Americans."
However, Just Facts reported that her proposed "tax cuts" actually amounted to little more than direct welfare benefits that would be paid out by the IRS through two fraud-ridden programs.
She did propose one viable tax cut, however — no tax on tips. But she proposed it well after Trump did after finding out how popular it was with Las Vegas voters.
Inflation
"Face the Nation" (CBS News) moderator Margaret Brennan argued that "the president of the United States has nothing to do with the price of bacon," "or eggs," "or gas," put in John Dickson "or any of it." It was an obvious attempt to shield then-President Biden from the crippling inflation which had become a major voter concern.
However, a presidential administration’s spending, along with its monetary and regulatory policies, impact the prices of virtually every commodity.
Spending deficits will spur inflation, and regulation, particularly of the energy sector, negatively impacts the cost of nearly all goods and services, as well as those that prohibit the use of cost-effective production methods.
Price and wage controls, trade deals, tariffs, and more all affect inflation as well.
Biden Family Business Dealings
This was something Democrats and the legacy media claimed was a non-issue for years — since at least October 2020 when then-Biden adviser Antony Blinken asked 51 current and former national intelligence officials to sign a letter claiming that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, outlining Biden family business dealings, had the earmarks of Russian disinformation.
Four years later MSNBC’s Nicolle Wallace once again claimed that it was a "conspiracy theory" that Hunter Biden "profited from business dealings in Ukraine with the help of his father."
This is all balderdash.
Just Facts cites numerous written records and eyewitness testimony from a former Biden business associate that prove Joe Biden was up to his neck in Hunter’s business deals.
Their alleged malfeasance include influence peddling, bribery of Ukrainian officials with U.S. taxpayer dollars, and obstruction of justice.
'Bipartisan' Border Bill:
In a "fact check" during the only debate between then-Vice President Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, PolitiFact reported that Harris was "correct that Trump helped kill a bipartisan border security bill. "But that really came down to what your definition of the word "security" is.
Harris argued that Trump killed the bill because "he preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem."
In truth, Trump opposed the bill because it actually would have normalized illegal border crossings by permitting up to 5,000 per day — nearly one million per year. When the dust cleared only one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, voted for it.
Michael Dorstewitz is a retired lawyer and has been a frequent contributor to Newsmax. He is also a former U.S. Merchant Marine officer and a Second Amendment supporter. Read Michael Dorstewitz's Reports — More Here.