The Winner of Trump’s MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS Is...

Such presidential, much wow.

(Photo: Meghnad Bose/The Quint)

When Donald Trump isn’t tweeting that his (nuke) button is bigger than yours (or Kim Jong-un’s really), he does other presidential things like announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR. Yup, that’s the President of the United States for you.

I will be announcing THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday at 5:00 o’clock. Subjects will cover Dishonesty & Bad Reporting in various categories from the Fake News Media. Stay tuned!

The Donald

‘Nuff said.(GIF Courtesy: GIPHY)

And he’s now postponed his entirely made-up awards show while warning everyone about its supposed importance!

And the Winner Is...

Why wait to know who the winner is? We’re the instant tweet-out-what-you-want generation (or wait, has Trump taken that title too?), we want the results now.

After painstaking research, we at The Quint have finally zeroed in on the real, true, deserving winner of the Donald’s new pageant-like contest.

And the winner is...

For single-handedly peddling fake news, misinformation and baseless propaganda to the world, without a care for facts, the real force behind ‘alternative facts’, the creator of conspiracy theories...

DONALD TRUMP HIMSELF!

“Jeet gaya Donald, jeet gaya Donald!”(GIF Courtesy: GIPHY)

Why Donald Clinches the Title

Before you start trolling us in the comments, here’s why we think the Donald is the deserving candidate for his own award.

Yes, he’s not technically a media house but as the guy who sits in the Oval Office of the White House, he does have a large communication network at his disposal, not to mention his trigger-happy Twitter persona.

And he’s used that to peddle way too many lies. Here are some of the highlights.

Make fake news mainstream again.(Photo: Meghnad Bose/The Quint)

But before we get to individual stories of Trump throwing facts out of the window, take a look at some of the rave reviews he’s getting from established, renowned media outlets (or as Trump would like to call them – “fake, dishonest media”).

Rave Reviews

When President Trump sat down with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/28/us/politics/trump-interview-excerpts.html?_r=0"><i>The New York</i> <em>Times</em> for an interview</a> recently, he said something <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/factcheck/ct-trump-interview-fact-check-20171229-story.html">untrue almost every 75 seconds</a>.

<a href="http://time.com/5084420/donald-trump-lies-claims-fact-checks/">Time</a>

President Donald Trump has broken lots and lots of norms during his first 347 days as President. But none are as flagrant or as important as his casual relationship with the truth and utter lack of regard for being factual.

<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/02/politics/donald-trump-lies-fact-checker/index.html">CNN</a>

Donald Trump is in a different category. The sheer frequency, spontaneity and seeming irrelevance of his lies have no precedent. Nixon, Reagan and Clinton were protecting their reputations; Trump seems to lie for the pure joy of it. A whopping <a href="http://www.politifact.com/personalities/donald-trump/">70 percent</a> of Trump’s statements that PolitiFact checked during the campaign were false, while only four percent were completely true, and 11 percent mostly true.

<a href="https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/01/donald-trump-lies-liar-effect-brain-214658">Politico</a>

President <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/topic/politics-government/donald-trump-PEBSL000163-topic.html">Donald Trump</a> gave an impromptu half-hour interview with <i>The New York Times</i> on 28 December. We combed through the transcript and here’s a quick round-up of the false, misleading or dubious claims that he made, at rate of one claim every 75 seconds.

<a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/factcheck/ct-trump-interview-fact-check-20171229-story.html">Chicago Tribune</a>

And we could go on and on, but you get the point already, don’t you?

MSM Conspiracy Against Trump?

Think this is a mainstream media (MSM) conspiracy against the Donald?

It’s not. Really. Let’s show you the facts.

Okay, but we’ll still state the facts.(GIF Courtesy: GIPHY)

The Voter Fraud Bogey

In a meeting with congressional leaders shortly after he was sworn in, Trump falsely said that 3 to 5 million people voted illegally in the 2016 US presidential election.

It’s been close to a year. He still hasn’t been able to show one single shred of evidence to back his claim. Why? Because it doesn’t exist?

The claim is <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2017/01/24/recidivism-watch-trumps-claim-that-3-5-million-people-voted-illegally-in-the-election/?utm_term=.60d7fee88630">not supported by any verifiable facts</a>, and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2016/12/01/0-000002-percent-of-all-the-ballots-cast-in-the-2016-election-were-fraudulent/?utm_term=.2752ab2dc968">analyses of the election</a> found virtually no confirmed cases of voter fraud, let alone millions.

The Washington Post

The 'Obama Spied on Me' Lie

In March 2017, Trump tweeted that he had “just found out” that Obama had his “wires tapped” in Trump Tower.

Umm, not true, Donald. And it’s not Obama saying so. It’s your own government’s Department of Justice admitting that there is no proof to back up your claim conspiracy theory. Awkward, right?

The Sheer Consistency

According to The Washington Post’s Fact Checker, Trump has made 1,950 misleading or simply false claims since being sworn in as President in January 2017.

That’s an average of 5.6 misleading or simply false claims a day. Wow.

“Wow. That’s some consistency!”(GIF Courtesy: GIPHY)

Old Habits Die Hard

Trump’s relation with the truth was always a tough one. Long before he became President, he routinely claimed that Barack Obama was not born in America.

Obama was born in the US state of Hawaii in 1961. But why would that stop Trump from publicly questioning Obama’s citizenship? The White House even released copies of Obama’s original long-form birth certificate in 2011. But why would that stop Trump from continuing to lie?

And even though Trump acknowledged that Obama is an American citizen, during his presidential campaign in 2016, he has reportedly continued to spread his older lie on reaching the White House.

Why, Donald, why?

Why lie against Obama, now?(GIF Courtesy: GIPHY)

Truthful Hyperbole, Alternative Facts

In the past, Trump falsely claimed that his signature building – Trump Tower in Manhattan – was several storeys taller than it actually is. In his first book, The Art of the Deal, he admitted to using what he termed “truthful hyperbole.”

Truthful hyperbole? Seriously, Donald?

Ask your staff. They call it “alternative facts” nowadays.

But hey, here’s what the dictionary says. They even tweeted it out for your benefit.

Now You Get Why Trump Should Win His Own Award?

We could go on with more and more examples of Trump lying through his teeth, but you see why he deserves his own award, right?

So, dear Donald, instead of handing out THE MOST DISHONEST & CORRUPT MEDIA AWARDS OF THE YEAR on Monday, why don’t you just keep the trophy yourself?

Haha, that’s a deal then!(GIF Courtesy: GIPHY)