Reagan’s words were real
An ad created by Ontario, Canada, which showed former President Ronald Reagan talking about tariffs, appeared to rankle President Donald Trump.
“The Ronald Reagan Foundation has just announced that Canada has fraudulently used an advertisement, which is FAKE, featuring Ronald Reagan speaking negatively about Tariffs,” Trump said in an Oct. 23 post on Truth Social. “ … Based on their egregious behavior, ALL TRADE NEGOTIATIONS WITH CANADA ARE HEREBY TERMINATED.”
But the footage in the ad is not fake, according to The Associated Press. However, the ad misrepresented Reagan’s comments by taking the statements out of context.
The footage in the ad was from an April 25, 1987, radio address by Reagan.
“When someone says let’s impose tariffs on foreign imports, it looks like they’re doing the patriotic thing by protecting American projects and jobs,” Reagan said during that address. “And sometimes for a short while it works. But only for a short time.”
But, in that speech, Reagan wasn’t criticizing tariffs. He had recently imposed tariffs on Japanese semiconductors and was explaining his reasoning for that action. At the same time, he imposed tariffs on the import of motorcycles from Japan.
Trump was correct about the Ronald Reagan Foundation. The group posted a statement Oct. 23 on X.
The foundation said Ontario created the spot “using selective audio and video” of Reagan’s speech and the ad “misrepresents the Presidential Radio Address.” The foundation “is reviewing its legal options in this matter.”
The foundation encouraged people to watch an unedited video of Reagan’s April 25, 1987, address.
Leavitt’s statement out of context
The East Wing of the White House is currently being demolished to make way for the construction of a ballroom.
Democrat Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, minority leader of the House, appeared to be rankled by a statement from White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Jeffries posted a five-second video of Leavitt on X, with the statement, “The Trump administration just declared that erecting a ballroom is the President’s main priority. Meanwhile. The cost of living is way too high and the Republican health care crisis threatens millions of Americans.”
The House Democratic Caucus and the Democratic National Committee posted similar statements.
But in the short clip, the words from Leavitt are out of context and the posts misrepresent what she was saying, according to PolitiFact.
Speaking for President Trump, Leavitt didn’t say the ballroom is more important than the cost of living or health care. During that news conference, a reporter asked Leavitt about the ballroom, the Rose Garden patio and other renovations at the White House. Leavitt’s answer was only about those projects.
“His heart and his mind is always churning about how to improve things here on the White House grounds,” she said. “But at this moment in time, of course, the ballroom is really the president's main priority.”
Walmart is still open
A few social media posts claim the retail giant Walmart is suddenly closing.
“Walmart closing doors on November 1st due to food stamp crisis,” reads the text on a recent Facebook post with a man on video stating, “They’re only taking online orders and curbside pickup.”
The narrator said the store is closing because of possible funding problems for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, which helps out with the cost of food for low-income people. But Walmart, which operates more than 4,500 U.S. stores, will remain open, according to PolitiFact.
Walmart spokesperson Rodrigo Santos Legaspi told PolitiFact that those rumors are false. The retailer has been advertising deals for Black Friday shopping that begin in November.
Taylor Swift didn’t announce pregnancy
In August, singer Taylor Swift and NFL player Travis Kelce announced, on their social media accounts, plans to get married. And in October, a Facebook user seemed to announce more plans for the couple.
“JUST IN: ‘Baby NO. 1 on the way’. Pop sensation Taylor Swift and NFL star Travis Kelce have announced that they are expecting their first child together,” read the post.
But this post, and other similar versions of the fake news, are false, according to Snopes. There is no other evidence to support this claim.
Many of the fake posts include a photo of Swift and Kelce holding what appears to be an ultrasound image. In some early versions of that photo, a watermark can be seen in the corner, indicating that the photo was created using artificial intelligence. In later versions of the post, the watermark is cropped out.
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.