In a tweet reminiscent of his lie about the size of his inauguration crowd, Donald Trump falsely claimed this morning that “the highest number in history” viewed his first State of the Union address Tuesday night. In a rare move, Fox corrected the lie.
Here’s what Trump tweeted earlier today:
Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history. @FoxNews beat every other Network, for the first time ever, with 11.7 million people tuning in. Delivered from the heart!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2018
But, as The New York Times pointed out, Trump’s speech ranked ninth out of such addresses since 1993.
Before any Trump supporters reading this start crying “Fake news!” bear in mind that even Trump TV, aka Fox News, pretty much corroborates the Times. Fox News Research tweeted out numbers showing that Trump’s speech was beaten by official States of the Union addresses in 2010 (Barack Obama) and 2003 (George W. Bush).
#SOTU TV Viewers:
— Fox News Research (@FoxNewsResearch) February 1, 2018
2018: 45.6M
2017: 47.7M*
2016: 31.3M
2015: 31.7M
2014: 33.3M
2013: 33.5M
2012: 37.8M
2011: 42.8M
2010: 48.0M
2009: 52.4M*
2008: 37.5M
2007: 45.5M
2006: 41.7M
2005: 38.4M
2004: 43.4M
2003: 62.1M
1993: 66.9M* (largest TV audience)
*Not an official SOTU pic.twitter.com/OZlUHmGQp4
It’s good to know there are some people at Fox who don’t spend 24/7 thinking of ways to pump up Trump. At least for now.
As Think Progress noted, today's lie is similar to Trump's brazenly ridiculous lie about his inauguration:
Despite clear photographic evidence that the crowd at Trump’s inauguration was far smaller than for Obama’s, the Trump administration spent the first days of Trump’s presidency insisting that it “was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration. Period. Both in person and around the globe,” as then-Press Secretary Sean Spicer’s infamously said during his first press briefing.
Trump caricature by DonkeyHotey via Creative Commons license.