# Writer of fake news blames himself for Trump's election. **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [November 17, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294 "2016-11-17T22:57:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/1 "2016-11-17T22:57:19Z")
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/17/facebook-fake-news-writer-i-think-donald-trump-is-in-the-white-house-because-of-me/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/17/facebook-fake-news-writer-i-think-donald-trump-is-in-the-white-house-because-of-me/) > [@](#): > > My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time. I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist. > … > Just ’cause his supporters were under the belief that people were getting paid to protest at their rallies, and that’s just insane. I’ve gone to Trump protests — trust me, no one needs to get paid to protest Trump. I just wanted to make fun of that insane belief, but it took off. They actually believed it. > > I thought they’d fact-check it, and it’d make them look worse. I mean that’s how this always works: Someone posts something I write, then they find out it’s false, then they look like idiots. But Trump supporters — they just keep running with it! They never fact-check anything! Now he’s in the White House. Looking back, instead of hurting the campaign, I think I helped it. And that feels [bad]. Apparently the guy intended no harm but dude, c’mon, know when to stop! ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/2 "2016-11-17T23:19:29Z")
He and everyone like him can burn in hell along with the telemarketers and other scam artists of the world. I honestly don’t care who he was rooting for. He ranks well below a deplorable and sounds like a slimy retard in his linked interview. I am sure he doesn’t feel that bad though. He is a professional fake news story promoter, not a satirical political activist. His motivation is made perfectly clear in the last question. \*"Facebook and Google recently announced that they’d no longer let fake-news sites use their advertising platforms. I know you basically make your living from those services. How worried are you about this? This whole Google AdSense thing is pretty scary. And all this Facebook stuff. I make most of my money from AdSense — like, you wouldn’t believe how much money I make from it. Right now I make like $10,000 a month from AdSense."\* Maybe the Trump administration can give him a job on their press team if Facebook and Google start cracking down on intentionally deceptive fake news stories. What is the world coming to? First they came for the Spammers, next the computer hijackers and now they want to crack down on fake “news”. How is an honorable person supposed to make 6 figures or more these days? ---
**Author:** ![Pearl\_Clutching\_Provocateur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c68b51/32.png) [@Pearl\_Clutching\_Provocateur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pearl_Clutching_Provocateur)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/3 "2016-11-17T23:21:05Z")
I thought this was going to be about OccupyDemocrats. I have Facebook friends who constantly share their stuff. When I go to fact check it, it’s mostly false or a great exaggeration. ---
**Author:** ![Fiveyearlurker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/da6949/32.png) [@Fiveyearlurker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiveyearlurker)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2016, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/4 "2016-11-17T23:31:29Z")
> [@Pearl\_Clutching\_Provocateur](#): > > I thought this was going to be about OccupyDemocrats. I have Facebook friends who constantly share their stuff. When I go to fact check it, it’s mostly false or a great exaggeration. Did they share any articles about false equivalences? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/5 "2016-11-18T00:54:57Z")
nm ---
**Author:** ![Salvor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Salvor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salvor)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/6 "2016-11-18T19:19:47Z")
[https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/17/facebook-fake-news-writer-i-think-donald-trump-is-in-the-white-house-because-of-me/](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2016/11/17/facebook-fake-news-writer-i-think-donald-trump-is-in-the-white-house-because-of-me/) Listen to this gem from an impresario of fake news: > [@](#): > > My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time. I think Trump is in the White House because of me. His followers don’t fact-check anything — they’ll post everything, believe anything. His campaign manager posted my story about a protester getting paid $3,500 as fact. Like, I made that up. I posted a fake ad on Craigslist. The right has become so toxic that it seems they are more likely to jump on conspiracy theories. They say the left demonizes, but it looks like the right is the side that has a greater propensity to believe in actual demons walking this earth. Hillary Clinton. When questions are asked for future strategies that favor either trying to sway such people with arguments and policies intended to address their concerns… or writing them off with a newly ascended coalition that will continue to get stronger and bludgeon them into the abyss politically in the future, this kind of window to their souls makes me want to choose the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/7 "2016-11-18T19:35:37Z")
[How many threads on this topic do we need?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=811222) ---
**Author:** ![Sunny\_Daze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunny_daze/32/438_2.png) [@Sunny\_Daze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunny_Daze)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/8 "2016-11-18T19:46:20Z")
OP - since when is it “always bad”? No group is above criticism. **Bo** - the answer is obviously, “all of them”. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Salvor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Salvor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Salvor)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/9 "2016-11-18T20:11:47Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [How many threads on this topic do we need?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=811222) woops, didn’t pay attention to see it was already up, can delete/move this thread if wished. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [November 18, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/writer-of-fake-news-blames-himself-for-trumps-election/772294/10 "2016-11-18T20:50:37Z")
Merged threads starting at post #6. [/moderating]