Fake Biden quote follows picket line visit
President Joe Biden last week spent time in Michigan supporting striking autoworkers.
He joined members of the United Auto Workers labor union in a picket line outside a General Motors distribution center in Bellville, Michigan.
He is the first president to stand with striking workers. During the event, Biden addressed the crowd.
"I marched a lot of UAW picket lines when I was a senator - since 1973 - but I tell you what, it's the first time I've ever done it as president," Biden said.
But that's not how some social media accounts reported it, according to Reuters.
"What did he say?" read a Sept. 26 Facebook post. "Biden today: 'I marched a lot of UAW picket lines when I was a Senator since 1973. But I tell you what - first time I've ever done it in person.'"
A commenter on a separate post asked how the president could have joined a picket line as a senator if he was not there in person.
But Biden can clearly be heard saying "as president" on a video posted by C-SPAN.
While slowing down the audio, Biden distinctly says the three-syllable word "president," not the two-syllable word "person," Reuters said.
Former President Donald Trump made a recent campaign stop at a gun shop in South Carolina.
Video of the Sept. 25 visit shows Trump at the Palmetto State Armory in Summerville, S.C., looking at a special-edition Glock pistol, designed with Trump's image and the words "Trump 45th."
The former president is heard saying, "I want to get that. Isn't a Glock a great gun?"
Some social media users posted the video with the headline, "Trump just bought a handgun!" and a caption that read, "Trump carries!"
Although Trump seemed to admire the pistol, he didn't buy one during that stop.
It was a Trump campaign staffer who announced on social media that the former president had bought a gun, then had to backtrack.
"President Trump did not purchase or take possession of the firearm. He simply indicated that he wanted one," the campaign told PolitiFact.
Some commenters questioned whether the gun shop could legally sell a firearm to Trump.
Federal law prohibits the sale of guns and ammunition to people under felony indictment. Trump is currently facing 91 criminal charges in four different indictment cases.
Not burning books
Social media users who posted a video of two men operating flamethrowers claim the target is books.
"Republican Missouri Gubernatorial Candidate and State Sen. Bill Eigel along with Missouri State Sen. Nick Schroer participated in a book burning this weekend using flame throwers at an event called the St. Charles County Freedom Fest," read a recent Instagram post.
But that's not quite right, according to FactCheck.org. The flames were real, but they weren't burning books.
As a nearby crowd cheered, Eigel and Schroer were each wielding a flamethrower, demonstrating items that were being auctioned off during a Republican fundraiser in St. Charles County, Missouri. What they were burning was a pile of empty boxes.
After the false posts, Eigel and Schroer responded on X.
"These were two items being raffled off and myself and @BillEigel burned a stack of empty boxes to help increase the funds being raised," Schroer wrote on Sept. 17.
Eigel offered his explanation the next day.
"In the video, I am taking a flame thrower to cardboard boxes representing what I am going to do to the leftist policies and RINO corruption of the Jeff City swamp," he wrote.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer last month relaxed the dress code on the Senate floor after Democratic Sen. John Fetterman ignored the rules, wearing shorts and hoodies to work.
Social media posts show one Republican senator who supposedly got even more casual.
"BREAKING: Sen. Rand Paul shows up to work at the Capitol barefoot in a red bathrobe after Senate dress code change. He's not even a Democrat. It's like he just rolled out of bed and didn't bother putting on clothes. This is INSANE," read an X post that included a photo appearing to show Paul sitting on the Capitol steps in a robe.
But the photo isn't real, according to the AP. It was created by Texas-based political commentator and podcast host Jeff Charles using an artificial intelligence program.
"The images are satirical in nature. I created them using AI," Charles told the AP.
Paul took to X on Sept. 22 to respond to Charles' satirical image.
"I thought I was clear when I said no photographs," he wrote
• Bob Oswald is a veteran Chicago-area journalist and former news editor of the Elgin Courier-News. Contact him at boboswald33@gmail.com.