Fox & Friends Pete Hegseth Falsely Touts ‘Spontaneous’ Trump Rally as ‘Not Planned’ (It Was Planned)
Fox News’ Pete Hegseth falsely claimed that former President Donald Trump was spontaneously greeted by supporters who gathered to see him return from a Presidents Day golf outing in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The comments from Hegseth came as Fox & Friends discussed the latest Gallup poll showing most Republicans think America needs a third mainstream political party. The show then aired footage of Trump’s motorcade as it passed a crowd of people cheering for him on Presidents Day.
“That was not a planned event,” Hegseth said. “That was spontaneous on Presidents Day for Donald Trump.”
The conversation went back to Gallup’s data shortly after, with Hegseth remarking that the Republican Party has been “totally transformed” by Trump, and he warned against those in the GOP who might try to pull the party away from the ex-president. The show also ran footage of Donald Trump Jr. describing the rally for his father as a “totally organic” occurrence.
Despite the claims of Hegseth and the ex-president’s son, the reality is that the rally was planned.
New York Magazine’s Olivia Nuzzi pointed out that right-wing media outlets promoted the gathering ahead of time:
Scavino’s tweet makes it sound like a spontaneous crowd of devoted fans formed outside of Mar-a-Lago to celebrate former president Donald Trump today. But far-right media has been promoting this as a “rally” and encouraging people to show up for the last week: https://t.co/WwfqQBJDYX pic.twitter.com/RG9GoPbETg
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) February 15, 2021
Furthermore, ABC News noted that the rally organizers were calling it the “Presidents’ Day Peaceful and Patriotic Pro-Trump Rally,” which might be a reference to Trump’s speech from just before his supporters attacked the U.S. Capitol in a violent, unlawful attempt to overturn his 2020 election defeat.
Mediaite has reached out to Fox News for comment and will update upon hearing back.
Watch above, via Fox News.
