Trump Cautions Supporters Against Trusting News: “What You’re Seeing Is Not What’s Happening”

During an event on Tuesday, President Donald Trump cautioned supporters against trusting the news, “Just remember: What you’re seeing and what you’re reading is not what’s happening,” he said.

The warning has struck a chord with many critics who have characterized it as dangerously Orwellian. The words, they say, possess an eery likeness to George Orwell’s dystopian tale 1984: “The party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.” 

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Trump delivered the line while speaking at the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in Kansas City, Mo. His speech primarily focused on the country’s economic improvement, attributing it to his tough stance on trade, primarily with respect to tariffs. With a trade war on the horizon, Trump continued to assert that farmers would be the “biggest beneficiary” of his escalating trade disputes. Even though just earlier that day, it was reported that the Trump administration is set to provide an estimated $12 billion in financial aid to farmers hurt by his tariffs.

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Continuing his “fake news” tirade, Trump assured supporters, “Just stick with us. Don’t believe the c–p you see from these people, the fake news,” he said, while pointing to members of the press gathered nearby. He also didn’t hesitate to single out specific news outlets, calling CNN “the worst,” and claiming that NBC’s reporting was purposely created “by the lobbyists and by the people that they hire.” 

This is just the latest in a long history of attacks the president has made to discredit news outlets he does not agree with or who have questioned his presidency. Convention leaders hosting the event were not as taken with the president’s attack and later reprimanded crowd-goers for booing at the press.

Today, we were disappointed to hear some of our members boo the press during President Trump’s remarks. We rely on the media to spread the VFW message, and @CNN, @NBCNews, @ABC, @FoxNews, @CBSNews, & others on site today, were our invited guests. We were happy to have them there.

— VFW National HQ (@VFWHQ) July 24, 2018

Check out Trump’s speech below.