Trump won't stop falsely claiming Reagan lost Wisconsin


President Trump's most recent less-than-truth may just be willful ignorance at this point.
Trump keeps noting that he carried Wisconsin in the 2016 election, claiming he achieved a feat not even former President Ronald Reagan could. He made the false claim for a third time as he left the NATO summit Thursday, per The Washington Post: "One of the states we won — Wisconsin — I didn't realize this until fairly recently, that was the one state that Ronald Reagan didn't win when he ran the board his second time," Trump boasted. "He didn't win Wisconsin, and we won Wisconsin."
The president is trying say he won the single state Reagan lost in the 1984 election, but a simple Google search would help Trump get his facts straight. Reagan dominated Wisconsin in both 1980 and 1984, only losing one state the second time around: Wisconsin's next-door neighbor, Minnesota. (Trump lost Minnesota too in 2016.)
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.
Trump's falsity was a bit bigger during its second appearance at a Montana rally last week, the Post points out. "I won Wisconsin, first time since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952," Trump said at the rally, even though Republicans have won Wisconsin six times since. Eisenhower did it himself in 1956.
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
Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.
-
5 fundamentally funny cartoons about the US Constitution
Cartoons Artists take on Sharpie edits, wear and tear, and more
-
In search of paradise in Thailand's western isles
The Week Recommends 'Unspoiled spots' remain, providing a fascinating insight into the past
-
The fertility crisis: can Trump make America breed again?
Talking Point The self-styled 'fertilisation president', has been soliciting ideas on how to get Americans to have more babies
-
Trump taps Fox News' Pirro for DC attorney post
speed read The president has named Fox News host Jeanine Pirro to be the top federal prosecutor for Washington, replacing acting US Attorney Ed Martin
-
Trump, UK's Starmer outline first post-tariff deal
speed read President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Kier Starmer struck a 'historic' agreement to eliminate some of the former's imposed tariffs
-
Fed leaves rates unchanged as Powell warns on tariffs
speed read The Federal Reserve says the risks of higher inflation and unemployment are increasing under Trump's tariffs
-
Denmark to grill US envoy on Greenland spying report
speed read The Trump administration ramped up spying on Greenland, says reporting by The Wall Street Journal
-
Supreme Court allows transgender troop ban
speed read The US Supreme Court will let the Trump administration begin executing its ban on transgender military service members
-
Hollywood confounded by Trump's film tariff idea
speed read President Trump proposed a '100% tariff' on movies 'produced in foreign lands'
-
Trump offers migrants $1,000 to 'self-deport'
speed read The Department of Homeland Security says undocumented immigrants can leave the US in a more 'dignified way'
-
Trump is not sure he must follow the Constitution
speed read When asked about due process for migrants in a TV interview, President Trump said he didn't know whether he had to uphold the Fifth Amendment