OutFoxed
On Sunday, NBC’s Yamiche Alcindor nailed an exclusive phone interview with President Trump. A good deal of news came out of that, and a story that followed highlighted Trump’s vague and ominous threat to investigate former FBI director Christopher Wray amid false claims that FBI agents were part of the January 6 crowd that stormed the Capitol.
Another big piece of news came out of that interview, and we know about that thanks to Evan Watson, a reporter for KGW-8, the NBC affiliate in Portland, Oregon. KGW obtained a transcript of Trump’s remarks and published a story midday Sunday that highlighted a stunning quote from Trump. Here is the section, emphasis mine:
Trump referenced a weekend conversation with Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, and he alluded to being told by Kotek that the reality in Portland is different from what’s being portrayed to him.
“I spoke to the governor, she was very nice,” Trump said. “But I said, ‘Well wait a minute, am I watching things on television that are different from what’s happening? My people tell me different.’ They are literally attacking and there are fires all over the place…it looks like terrible.”
That quote tells us a great deal about Trump’s decision to send troops to Portland, but it says even more about how our president obtains and processes information. And it jibes with a new lawsuit filed by the city and state to stop Trump’s moves into Portland. In the suit, the plaintiffs allege that Trump has been relying on clips from violent George Floyd protests in Portland in 2020 to decide how to act there in 2025. Last September 5, the suit says, “Fox News aired a report on Portland ICE protests that included misleading clips from Portland protests in 2020. Shortly thereafter, President Trump appeared to reference events in the same misleading Fox News report when speaking to the press. A reporter asked which city President Trump planned to send troops to next, and he said he was considering targeting Portland because of news coverage the night before. President Trump alleged that ‘paid terrorists’ and ‘paid agitators’ were making the city unlivable, further stating…‘if we go to Portland, we’re gonna wipe them out. They’re going to be gone and they’re going to be gone fast.’”
Related Knowledge Center: Democracy and politics
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Related Knowledge Center: Information integrity
In an increasingly fractured media landscape, truth has been a casualty in the public discussion. Coverage has been warped by the business needs of struggling news organizations, and a significant segment of the public relies on bad-faith outlets that are little more than propagandists. While fact-checking has become routine, some organizations are exploring other ways to combat the trends. And misinformation spewed by AI-driven chatbots has become more of a feature than simply a bug.
Fact-checking and its detractors