Trump Lies About 'Historic' State of the Union Viewership, Didn't Even Make Top Five

AlterNet
February 02, 2018

President Donald Trump lied for no apparent reason Thursday about the historicity of his State of the Union address viewership.

"45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history," Trump posted on Twitter.

Actually, it is not the highest number. In fact, it's the sixth highest since Neilson began tracking in 1993. Presidents George Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama all pulled better numbers during their tenure.

As usual, the White House tried to spin the president's lie into something resembling a possible fact, saying he meant cable news history. PolitiFact explains why this claim is absurd.

"That works only if we exclude Trump’s Joint Address to Congress in 2017 and only include the three major cable networks (CNN, Fox News Network and MSNBC) dating back to 2001, when all three aired the address."

Trump lies all the time, but quoting a number that disproves the lie in the same sentence as the lie makes this whopper a feat worth noting.

Report typos and corrections to: feedback@alternet.org.

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