The Return of Alternative Facts

Trump’s new press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, took on an angry tone at her first press conference. She also provided plenty of alternative facts. Apparently, the job now entails just making stuff up.

Yesterday, Leavitt claimed that the Trump administration will stop all foreign aid because America supposedly sent $50 million of condoms to Gaza and that the administration was just focusing on being “good stewards of tax dollars.”

The story is simply false. The U.S. Agency for International Development spent about $7 million on condoms in 2023, the vast majority of which went to Africa through anti-AIDS programs; Trump’s first administration made similar investments

Ironically, Trump’s press secretary accused others of lying and vowed to hold them accountable for telling the truth.

Matthew J. Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, told federal agencies that the memo freezing all federal aid had been “rescinded.” But then Leavitt said on social media that Trump’s executive orders on stopping federal funding “remain in full force.”

When a reporter noted that “[e]gg prices have skyrocketed since President Trump took office,” and asked “what specifically is he doing to lower those costs for Americans?”

Leavitt refused to answer the question:

“Really glad you brought this up because there is a lot of reporting out there that is putting the onus on this White House for the increased cost of eggs. I would like to point out to each and every one of you that in 2024, when Joe Biden was in the Oval Office…, egg prices increased 65 percent in this country. We also have seen the cost of everything—not just eggs—bacon, groceries, gasoline, have increased because of the inflationary policies of the last administration.”