Why most journalists are tired of fact-checking Donald Trump

As I look at a decade of coverage of the man who loves all things gold, I have to conclude that many journalists are suffering from Trump Exhaustion Syndrome.

It’s not about being physically tired, and of course there are exceptions. No, the syndrome involves throwing up your hands and abandoning basic fact-checking because, you know, they think, what the hell, everyone knows Trump says lots and lots of things that are untrue.

Much of this is tied to the surge in social media. After all, why do a second-day story analyzing what the president did or said when the hot story is Trump praising Nicki Minaj and her beautiful butt?

As for the truth-squadding part, don’t worry, I have the receipts. 

The other day, the president came out and said he had ordered the Justice Department to intervene in the crazy Alaska election. It was right there. He didn’t hide it. Pronounced it out in the open. 

I know the widespread belief that the department was doing his bidding — charging James Comey a third time? For younger readers, there used to be a brick wall between the White House and DOJ. 

If Joe Biden had breached that wall only once, he would have been impeached, convicted and behind bars.

As a former Justice Department reporter, I can tell you that divide hasn’t been pulverized since Watergate, when AG John Mitchell went to prison.

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Now a couple of the Sunday hosts, CNN’s Dana Bash and CBS’s Margaret Brennan, aggressively pressed Attorney General Todd Blanche about the controversy (two Dan Sullivans, and as the New York Times disclosed, the second guy was recruited by the Democrats).

At one point, Blanche addressed the president’s order that his department file a lawsuit.

“No, no, he didn’t say it on camera,” the AG insisted. “Yes he did,” Brennan shot back.

Indeed, he did. But as I looked at the major papers the next day, the press had moved on. (My apologies if I missed someone’s brilliant analysis). It was as if the story no longer existed.    

That’s Trump Exhaustion Syndrome in action.

Here’s another example. Just a couple of days ago, Trump said that while he might move the press briefing room, “the old swimming pool will never be brought back. I NEVER even thought of doing such a stupid thing!”

That didn’t sound right to me, and boy was I exhausted after 20 seconds of fact-checking.

People Magazine, just last month: “As President Donald Trump fights in court to ban particular news organizations from the White House, he suggested converting the White House press briefing room back to the indoor pool built during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s tenure in ‘The People’s House.’”

So we have a new definition of fake news: something the president used to say but has since changed his view and no longer stands by his previous position. 

I want to make something clear: I am not anti-Trump. I like him personally. I’ve covered him on and off since 1987, and interviewed him six times during the 2024 campaign. 

He can definitely be a charming guy in person. Most of the time, we’ve gotten along fine — he’s sent me a number of favorable notes — and sometimes, as is typical with him, not so much. 

There’s a reason half the country voted for him, even if many are now unhappy about the Iran war and rising prices at the pump. My goal here is to write about press behavior. 

Trump is a master media manipulator. He has known, since I was in New York writing about his exploits as a combative developer, how to distract the press from an unfavorable story, and he’s acknowledged as much to me.

When the president says “Norway sucks” and is a “s***-house country” (because he’s still ticked off about not winning the Nobel Peace Prize), he knows it will make news. 

Same with his comments about Nicki Minaj’s anatomy. He understands most of the press will take the bait. Oh, and sometimes Trump just gets carried away at rallies.

I’m not saying these things don’t deserve a mention in a feature column or as a cable-show kicker, but they do tend to squeeze out other stories.

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When Trump called Barack Obama “stupid”— over a joke that the White House looks like Saddam’s Cheesecake Factory — he was edging into real news.

And when he ordered the raid on Ilhan Omar’s home — abandoning the longstanding justice practice of doing nothing to influence politics in a campaign’s last 60 days — Trump created a major, important news story, no question about it. 

Back in 1987, Trump told me, without being asked, that if he ran for president, he would win. I confess to having been skeptical.

After Trump came down the escalator in 2015, he told me he had a 15 to 20 percent chance of winning the nomination. He can be surprisingly candid.

All these years later, it’s impossible to deny there’s a strong anti-Trump element in the media.

By convincing themselves there’s no point in challenging him because he constantly lies, many are indeed suffering from Trump Exhaustion Syndrome.