There’s a new star in the firmament of fake new: White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Known for her combative press conferences, Leavitt is at the center of a tornado of misinformation that is being spread on both sides of the political spectrum.
To set the record straight on two of the most viral fake Leavitt stories: She did not say people will love tariffs if they “avoid woke things like math.” And she did not appear on the Stephen Colbert Show. So if you believed either of these things, you’re wrong, Before you feel too bad for the lies being told about Leavitt, she is okay with spreading fake news of her own, so it’s a huge mess.
Karoline Leavitt did not say math is woke
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The above image has been shared and re-shared on Instagram, BlueSky, Reddit, and probably Friendster, so basically everyone has seen it. The X post above has been viewed over 2.6 million times alone. But Leavitt never said math is woke. This is a doctored version of an actual screenshot from Fox News, so it’s fake. It’s actually a joke, but judging from comments like these…
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…a lot of people didn’t see the humor in it. It’s not just people on the left who missed the mark; presumed defenders of Leavitt felt the need to refute the picture with political “whataboutism” like this:
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While the creator of the image is unknown, it was created as satire—but political parody is nearly impossible to pull off these days. This is a perfect example of Poe’s Law in action. Poe’s law states, basically, “any parodic expression of extreme views can be mistaken by some readers for a sincere expression of those views.” That tracks.
Karoline Leavitt did not debate Stephen Colbert
The fake news from the other side of the aisle can’t hide behind “It’s just a joke.” The above YouTube video isn’t meant to be funny. It looks and sounds like a straight-forward news story recounting Karoline Leavitt appearing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and completely owning the late night host in a debate.
“I know what Americans want more than some ivory tower news outlets or millionaire hosts like you,” Leavitt supposedly said, “Trump’s working for the people, not for you guys.”
What do you think so far?