Newsmax's Trump Election Stenography, Part 2
As the presidential campaign heated up, so did Newsmax's uncritical recitation of things Donald Trump said at his rallies -- all done without bothering to fact-check anything he said.
Newsmax loves publishing space-filling Donald Trump rally stenography, and it kept its writers busy transcribing his rally speeches even as he was on trial in New York. After his trial ended, the stenography continued:
Las Vegas events, June 8 and 9:
Event at Detroit “black church” and “exclusive backstage interview,” June 15:
Donald Trump to Newsmax: I Will Beat ‘Democrat Hoax,’ End Biden ‘Mess’
Trump: Sen. Tim Scott’s Opportunity Zones ‘Tremendous – Almost a Miracle’
Trump: VP Pick Will Be ‘Somebody That Will Be a Great President’
Trump on Endorsing Larry Hogan for Senate: ‘We Should Try and Get Along’
Turning Point Action speech, June 15:
Racine, Wis., speech, June 18:
Trump Declares ‘I Love Milwaukee’ After Reports Said He Called RNC Host City ‘Horrible’
Trump: I’ll ‘Be Debating Three People Instead of One’ on CNN
Faith & Freedom Coalition, June 22:
Philadelphia rally, June 22:
In most of these cases, the speech or rally “aired live on Newsmax and simulcast on the Newsmax2 online streaming platform.”
As Trump became the official Republican presidential candidate, Newsmax ramped up its partisan strategy of devoting multiple stenographical articles to Trump rallies and appearances on its TV channel:
Newsmax TV appearance, July 23:
Donald Trump to Newsmax: Cheatle Should Have Been Fired ‘in an Hour’
Donald Trump to Newsmax: ‘Unbelievable Enthusiasm’ Only Rising
Donald Trump to Newsmax: Respect Israel, Don’t Vote Democrat
No evidence was provided that interviewer Sebastian Gorka asked anything in the way of challenging questions of Trump.
Rally in Charlotte, N.C., July 24
Turning Point USA Believers and Ballots summit, West Palm Beach, Fla., July 26
Trump Calls for Christian Vote: ‘If You Don’t Vote, We’re Not Going to Win’
Trump Blasts ‘Comma-la’ as Leftist ‘Bum,’ Politicizing Judiciary
Trump: ‘Harris Stabbed Israel in Back in Its Great Hour of Need’
Bitcoin conference in Nashville, July 27
Rally in St. Cloud, Minn., July 27
Trump: ‘Remember, I Sent National Guard to Save Minneapolis’ (Trump is lying, but writer Eric Mack made no effort to fact-check his claim)
Rally in Harrisburg, Pa., July 31
Rally in Atlanta, Aug. 3
Trump on Debate With Harris: ‘I Don’t Think She’s Going to Show Up’
Trump Targets Brian Kemp at Rally: ‘Most Disloyal’ (Newsmax surprisingly also published Kemp’s response to Trump)
Aside from the Kemp response, no effort was made to fact-check anything Trump said, and most of the articles made a point of noting that the rally or speech “aired live and in its entirety on Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 streaming platform.” Newsmax made no effort to provide similar blanket coverage to speeches or rallies by Kamala Harris, making its right-wing, pro-Trump bias look painfully apparent.
Rally in Bozeman, Mont., Aug. 9
Press conference at Bedminster golf club, Aug. 15
(An article by James Morley III also complained that “The campaign for Democrat [sic] presidential nominee Kamala Harris trolled former President Donald Trump with a tongue-in-cheek media advisory email, warning the public of his upcoming press conference at Bedminster golf club in New Jersey on Thursday.”)
Campaign rally in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Aug. 17
Trump: Dems ‘Should Reimburse Me’ for $100 Million Spent Fighting Biden
Harris Campaign Tries to Fact Check Trump, Fails (a complaint about an attempted fact-check by Kamala Harris’ campaign of something Trump said during the rally)
Rally in Potterville, Mich., Aug. 29
Rally in La Crosse, Wis., Aug. 29
Gabbard Discusses Fertility Struggles as Trump Promises Free IVF (guest speaker)
Rally at Johnstown, Pa., Aug. 30
Moms for Liberty event in Washington, D.C., Aug. 30
Rally at Mosinee, Wis., Sept. 7
Rally at Long Island, N.Y., Sept. 18
Appearance on Newsmax, Sept. 19
Rally in Wilmington, N.C., Sept. 21
Trump Vows to Get to Mars: ‘Elon, Get Those Rocket Ships Going’
Trump: ‘Too Late’ to Debate Now, ‘Voting Has Already Started’
Rally in Indiana, Pa., Sept. 23
Trump Says Zelenskyy Wants Dems To Win US Elections (wire article)
Trump: 200% Tariff on John Deere If Plants Moved to Mexico (wire article)
Though Newsmax bashed Harris for an attempted fact-check of Trump, it made no effort whatsoever to fact-check anything Trump said.
Mar-a-Lago press conference
We documented how, as a part of its election strategy to squeeze multiple articles out of every Donald Trump rally or public appearance, Newsmax published its usual barrage of articles on Trump’s Aug. 8 news conference at Mar-a-Lago:
As usual, no effort was made to fact-check anything Trump said. But even though it published five articles about the presser, Newsmax still omitted a lot, much of which involved him being angry, inflammatory, vain and petty. Thanks to a much less biased outlet in Mediaite, we know that Newsmax didn’t want to tell you about:
Trump Warns of 1929-Style Depression and World War In Opening of Mar-a-Lago Presser
‘Give Me a Break!’ Trump Fumes After Reporter Asks About Kamala Harris’s Crowd Size
‘What a Stupid Question!’ Trump Rages At Reporter For Asking About His Limited Campaign Schedule
Maggie Haberman Challenges Trump On His Claim Jan 6th Was a Peaceful Transfer of Power
Mediaite also highlighted something Newsmax wouldn’t: a fact-check of Trump from the presser:
New York Times political reporter Maggie Haberman fact-checked former President Donald Trump’s false tale on Thursday recounting a near-death experience aboard a helicopter with Willie Brown, the former San Francisco mayor and ex-boyfriend of Vice President Kamala Harris.
The fictionalized account was told during a press conference at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort. Asked about Harris’ past relationship with Brown, Trump launched into a detailed narrative about the supposed “emergency landing”, even claiming Brown had divulged “terrible things” about Harris during the ordeal.
Haberman, who frequently has consistently broken news on Trump’s past and campaigns, called out the former president on X: “Trump’s story about being in a rough helicopter landing with Willie Brown was actually with [former California Governor] Jerry Brown, and there was no rough landing. Everything about the story was false, both men said.”
And far from a perilous emergency landing, the flight in question had been uneventful, according to Governor Gavin Newsom, who was also aboard.
In a further post, Haberman added: “Three Trump casino executives were killed in a helicopter crash in 1989, an event that Trump later insinuated he was supposed to join them on, a claim some employees said was untrue.”
Those three men associated with the story hit back in a New York Times article on Friday, a spokesperson for Jerry Brown said: “There was no emergency landing and no discussion of Kamala Harris.”
Newsmax did highlight Haberman’s fact-check a couple days later in an article by James Morley III — but framed it through Trump flatly denying it even though she had on-the-record sources backing up her account:
Former President Donald Trump fired back at The New York Times Friday evening, reiterating his statement that former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown was with Trump in a helicopter that nearly crashed.
“Two Failing New York Times ‘reporters’ questioned my story about a forced landing of a helicopter, in a field, with former Mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, and others. First of all, it was in New Jersey, not California, and it was Willie Brown, not former Governor Jerry Brown. So far they are about as accurate as they are with their other stories about me,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
“In an article dated April 15, 2011, ‘His Willieness dishes about his good buddy Donald Trump. I remember one time Trump sent his private jet to Boston to pick me up.’ He’s just angling for another ride in Trump’s jet (helicopter!). But now Willie doesn’t remember? No, he remembers!” Trump’s post continued.
[…]
Brown dismissed Trump’s story as make-believe, telling KRON4 out of San Francisco that the incident never happened.
“I’ve never done business with Donald Trump, let’s start with that,” Brown told the outlet. “And secondly, I don’t think I’d want to ride on the same helicopter with him. There’s too many people that have an agenda with reference to him, including the people who service helicopters!”
Former Los Angeles city councilman and California state Sen. Nate Holden told Politico on Friday that it was he who was with Trump on a helicopter that made an emergency landing.
“Willie is the short Black guy living in San Francisco,” Holden told the outlet. “I’m a tall Black guy living in Los Angeles. I guess we all look alike.”
Morley then highlighted a weird pushback from the Trump campaign that “Trump had made reference to the helicopter incident the book ‘Letters to Trump,’ in which he praised Brown” — which in no way proves Trump’s side of the story.