Fake News

Paul Horner — the 38-year-old self-made titan of a fake news empire on Facebook — is claiming responsibility for pushing Donald Trump to the White House, and says he has no plans to stop publishing fake news.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Horner attributed his success to Trumps’ particular base of supporters. He is the man behind such viral headlines as “The Amish in America Commit their Vote to Donald Trump” and “President Obama Signs Executive Order Banning the National Anthem at all Sporting Events Nationwide” — neither of which were true.

“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,” he told The Washington Post.

It's this kind of thing that has me trying to decide if I should abandon Facebook for good. There's just too much ridiculous idiocy on there, and I feel bad seeing so many of my friends buying into it all the time. Trying to convince them that nonsense is nonsense rarely works and I end up feeling like a nag after a while. So it just piles up in my newsfeed and my estimation of my friends' judgement erodes.

7 thoughts on “Fake News”

  1. Rob Caldecott

    I’ve been brutally unfollowing people but the shit still seeps through. But the fake stories are on a different level in the US I think, although the weeks after Brexit were a horror show.

    I regularly consider deleting my account but it’s still the preferred way many old friends and distant family members use to keep in touch. Plus The Onion headlines always make me smile. :)

    1. HinTN

      I got viciously drunk Wednesday night after the election and cursed out some people I have known a long time. Following the cursing I unfriended them. I have not been back and I have not missed it. Facile twaddle, even my best posts. I’ve kept the account because Messenger is a useful tool but the wall is gone and I’m fine without it.

    1. cleek Post author

      christ, what an asshole.

      “I’m married and pregnant!” Shauna said, smiling.

      “And my life is over,” Mike said, half-smiling.

      “We’re having a girl!” Shauna said. “I think it’ll be good for him, soften him up a bit.”

      “I’ll be nice to her, as long as she’s not a basic bitch,” Mike said.

      1. Countme-In

        “christ, what an asshole.”

        You’ve hurt tender feeling there, cleek. That will be noted by the Trump NSA, the Justice Department under Sessions, and his fascist Republican b*tches in the FBI, not to mention the CIA, which Trump’s vermin will run with consulting help, methodologies and the like, from Putin and the contemporary Russian equivalent of the KGB. Various black ops units in the U.S. military will be deployed domestically, against any notion of the rule of law that this once civilized Nation at least paid lip service to , to surveil, harass, and when necessary, terminate those who make such utterances.

        Yes, “asshole” is the top bullet point in any filth Republican resume, under “experience”., regardless of conservative race, creed, and gender. Though there is surely a slot for that c*nt cuck in the Trump White House, he will be more valuable to them on the outside as a ratf*cker, destroying us.

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