A Vanity Fair correspondent reported a Republican pollster’s joke about President Trump as fact, fooling many on social media into thinking the story was true.
GOP pollster Frank Luntz told Vanity Fair’s Gabriel Sherman a joke after the two bumped into each other at the Golden Globes award show last week. Luntz joked that at the White House Christmas Party the week before, he had asked Trump what his middle initial, “J,” stood for and that Trump responded by insisting “J” stood for “Genius.”
Trump’s real middle name is “John.” Luntz has told the joke at numerous public events, parties, and in interviews to get a laugh out of others.
Sherman was fooled by the joke and reported it as fact on Vanity Fair’s podcast Inside the Hive with Nick Bilton. In an article about the podcast, Bilton reported Luntz’s made up story in this manner:
Luntz corrected the record on Twitter on Saturday.
“I’ve been telling this joke at parties for years, and @GabrielSherman is the first person to think it was real. That’s what happens when the media wants to spin anything as ‘Orange Man bad!'” Luntz said. “Gonna be a long 5 more years…”
I’ve been telling this joke at parties for years, and @GabrielSherman is the first person to think it was real. That’s what happens when the media wants to spin anything as “Orange Man bad!”
Gonna be a long 5 more years… ??♂️ https://t.co/t0eK70h3jQ
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) January 11, 2020
Bilton responded to Luntz’s tweet, asserting that Sherman’s confusion was justified because the joke sounded “100% plausible.”
“You tell a story to a reporter that is 100% plausible given how close you are to the White House and, when he relays it, you call it spin?” Bilton tweeted. “Sounds more like you’ve been making fun of Trump for ‘years’ and you’re scared he might find out this time and shut you out (again).”
Luntz responded: “If I was scared, I wouldn’t post half the tweets I do. Ask anyone who has been to any of my speeches or public gatherings in the past 3 years, and they’ll recognize that joke.”
If I was scared, I wouldn’t post half the tweets I do.
Ask anyone who has been to any of my speeches or public gatherings in the past 3 years, and they’ll recognize that joke.
— Frank Luntz (@FrankLuntz) January 11, 2020
