Trump says 'fake' is 'one of the greatest of all terms I've come up with'


President Trump seemed to suggest he deserves credit for the creation of the word "fake," or perhaps the phrase "fake news," while speaking with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee on the launch episode of Huckabee's TBN show Saturday night.
"The media is — really, the word, I think one of the greatest of all terms I've come up with is 'fake,'" Trump said. "I guess other people have used it, perhaps, over the years, but I've never noticed it." If Trump is indeed claiming the word or phrase is primarily of his origination, this would not be the first time he has been incorrect in that regard: In May, the president claimed to have coined the phrase "priming the pump," which was popularized as an economic term in the 1930s.
Trump also defended his decision to throw paper towels to survivors of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, claiming he threw the towels at the crowd's request. "They had these beautiful, soft towels. Very good towels, and I came in and there was a crowd of a lot of people, and they were screaming, and they were loving everything," he said. "I was having fun; they were having fun. They said, 'Throw 'em to me! Throw 'em to me, Mr. President!' So next day [critics] said, ‘Oh it was so disrespectful to the people.' It was just a made-up thing. And also when I walked in, the cheering was incredible." Trump accused the news media of deceptively lowering the volume of the cheers.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Watch the entirety of Trump's interview here. The towel remarks are around the 8-minute mark, and "fake" comes up about a minute later.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.
-
5 costly cartoons about the national debt
Cartoons Political cartoonists take on the USA's financial hole, rare bipartisan agreement, and Donald Trump and Mike Johnson.
-
Green goddess salad recipe
The Week Recommends Avocado can be the creamy star of the show in this fresh, sharp salad
-
The Biden cover-up: a 'near-treasonous' conspiracy
Talking Point Using 'Trumpian' tactics, the former president's inner circle maintained a conspiracy of silence around his cognitive and physical decline
-
White House tackles fake citations in MAHA report
speed read A federal government public health report spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was rife with false citations
-
Judge blocks push to bar Harvard foreign students
speed read Judge Allison Burroughs sided with Harvard against the Trump administration's attempt to block the admittance of international students
-
Trump's trade war whipsawed by court rulings
Speed Read A series of court rulings over Trump's tariffs renders the future of US trade policy uncertain
-
Elon Musk departs Trump administration
speed read The former DOGE head says he is ending his government work to spend more time on his companies
-
Trump taps ex-personal lawyer for appeals court
speed read The president has nominated Emil Bove, his former criminal defense lawyer, to be a federal judge
-
US trade court nullifies Trump's biggest tariffs
speed read The US Court of International Trade says Trump exceeded his authority in imposing global tariffs
-
Trump pauses all new foreign student visas
speed read The State Department has stopped scheduling interviews with those seeking student visas in preparation for scrutiny of applicants' social media
-
Trump pardons Virginia sheriff convicted of bribery
speed read Former sheriff Scott Jenkins was sentenced to 10 years in prison on federal bribery and fraud charges