SATIRE (unless it isn't)
THE HOAX FILES · 25
The Hoax Label That Didn't Hold
We checked, and this hoax label didn't hold. Receipts cut both ways.
The Atlantic
Anonymous sources in 2020. Trump's own chief of staff, on the record, in 2023.
As printed on the graphic:
Trump Trashes Troops Hoax
What they sold
September 2020. The Atlantic reported, citing anonymous sources, that Trump privately called fallen American soldiers "losers" and "suckers," including around a canceled 2018 cemetery visit in France. CNN and the rest of the media ran it hard right before the election. The Trump White House denied it, and so did officials like the U.S. ambassador to France.
What the record shows
FNN tells you when the receipts cut against the list. October 2, 2023. Retired Gen. John Kelly, Trump's former White House chief of staff, went on the record in a statement to CNN's Jake Tapper. He confirmed that Trump had called service members "suckers" and "losers," didn't want to be seen with military amputees, and said things about POWs and the fallen. CNN: "John Kelly goes on the record to confirm several disturbing stories about Trump." The New York Times and NBC reported the same thing.
Trump has continued to deny saying it. That denial is on the record too. But it's no longer anonymous sourcing. It's a named four-star Marine general who was in the room.
The damage
FNN analysis: the "hoax" label here mostly fell apart. The fair criticism is timing. An anonymous blockbuster two months before an election, with on-record confirmation three years later, gives everyone room to believe whatever they already believed. Gallup's 2020 trust: 40%.
Closer
CNN finally landed a story with a named four-star behind it, and half the country shrugged. That's what years of burned credibility gets you. The lie is the product, even when the story is true.