COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW – 30/04/2019
Jon Allsop
On January 20, 2017, Donald Trump uttered his first falsehood as president of the United States. It came early in his inaugural address. “Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth,” he said. “Politicians prospered, but the jobs left, and the factories closed.” By the time Trump finished speaking, he’d said seven more things that didn’t stack up. Later in the day, he told employees at the CIA that “even the media” admitted his inaugural crowd had been “massive,” stretching “all the way back down to the Washington Monument.” Very clearly, this was not true, either.