Tim Murtaugh, the communications director for President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign, posted an image that he said was supposed to be a reminder of how the media is often wrong. Instead, it ended up being an illustration of how it’s difficult to trust anything that comes out of Trump’s team.
It began with Murtaugh posting a tweet showing what he said was an image of the Nov. 8, 2000, Washington Times front page with a banner headline that read “President Gore.” He shared a photo showing that the image had been plastered all over the Trump campaign’s headquarters, saying it was a “reminder that the media doesn’t select the president.”
The Washington Times, a conservative newspaper, quickly pushed back though and tweeted back at Murtaugh to make sure it was clear the image was fake: “Those photos have been doctored. The Washington Times never ran a ‘President Gore’ headline.” It wasn’t a particularly difficult thing to fact-check, considering others went on to post the real front page from Nov. 8, 2000. The real front page had the banner headline “Down to the Wire,” with a photo of George W. Bush and his wife, Laura, above the fold.
Murtaugh deleted the tweet. What appeared to be an embarrassing error came a day after the Trump campaign raised more than a few eyebrows by holding a news conference outside a landscaping company.
