Misinformation and Trump

Alan Cai

January 31, 2025

President Trump announced earlier this week that among the achievements his administration had accomplished so far was the stopping of $50 million worth of condoms to Hamas, which he claimed were being used to make bombs. Newly minted White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt made a similar statement during a press conference while providing no evidence that such a contribution occurred.

Although Americans throughout history have traditionally viewed their governing institutions with a certain degree of skepticism, citizens could usually count on information sourced from the government pre-Trump to be accurate. At least citizens were not subjected to being fed blatant falsehoods by their elected representatives who spun narratives on the daily to fit their agendas. Under the Trump administration, however, false or misleading information from the government — often deliberately uttered for the express purpose of misinformation — has become the norm rather than the exception. When consuming media, Americans must now err on the side of caution as Trump has weaponized the news cycle to influence public opinion and take the spotlight off of his shortcomings.

From the moment he first took office in January 2017, Trump’s difficult relationship with facts has been on full display to the American public. During his first press conference during his first term, Trump claimed that his election was the biggest electoral landslide since Ronald Reagan. A reporter quickly reminded him that Obama in 2008 had beat John McCain 365-173. When Trump clarified “by a Republican,” he was corrected again by the same reporter, who noted that George H. W. Bush had beaten Michael Dukakis 426-111. Moments like these give Trump the slight benefit of the doubt when it comes to evaluating such statements: perhaps it would be imprudent to call them “lies” if lack of knowledge was the main culprit. Nevertheless, Trump has nothing to lose from making false statements and seems to be taking advantage of this reality; his faithful supporters see him as the end-all-be-all authority on all political matters and his credibility will not be shaken no matter what he says. In fact, his most ardent supporters are drawn to him specifically because of his loose-cannon style of politics and are more than willing to accept verbal slip-ups as evidence of genuineness. On the other hand, his opponents will call Trump out for his misstatements, but doing so will only solidify his supporters’ convictions of the established elite unfairly targeting their leader.

Although Trump’s misinformation undermines trust in the American government, it may have long-term benefits. When individuals are more accustomed to questioning government press statements, challenging claims, and fact-checking on their own, democracy becomes stronger. In a very twisted and unexpected way, Trump may be strengthening democracy.