Did Nancy Pelosi offer to trade building a border wall in exchange for Donald Trump not running for president in 2020? No, that's not true. The story was published by a liberal satire website that tries to educate gullible Trump supporters and Republicans about the need to actually click and read links before sharing or liking them in order to avoid being embarrassed by fans of the site later. All the events described in the article are not real.
The story originated from an article published on December 14, 2018 titled "Pelosi : 'Trump Can Have Wall If He Doesn't Run In 2020'" (archived here) which opened:
In a surprising attempt at making a conciliatory deal after the contentious televised meeting earlier this week with President Trump, Nancy Pelosi has made an offer. As presumptory Speaker of the House, she will secure the Democratic votes necessary to fund a border wall if, and only if, the embattled President agrees not to run for re-election in 2020.
Pelosi is also willing to throw in a dinner for 2 at Trump's favorite Mar a Lago restaurant.
Pelosi denied that she's trying to strike the unorthodox bargain because she fears Democrats chances of victory in the next election."Seriously? With his approval ratings and idiotic trade war and racism, we could literally run a one-legged retarded dick monkey against him and win in a landslide. No, what I think, is that his fragile ego and dementia-ridden thought process fixated on 'da wall da wall' all the time might both be satisfied if we promise him the damn thing in exchange for not having to listen to another campaign of douchebaggery and lies. We can always block it after he's either in jail or back to bankrupting casinos or whatever. It's like giving a kid a dollar to shut him up. And he's far stupider than a kid."
If that extended quote doesn't convince you the whole thing is just a joke, the site also comes with a clear satire disclaimer at the bottom of each article:
sat·ire ~ˈsaˌtī(ə)r
noun
the use of humor, irony, exaggeration, OR ridicule to expose and criticize people's stupidity or vices, particularly in the context of contemporary politics and other topical issues.
If you disagree with the definition of satire or have decided it is synonymous with "comedy," you should really just move along.
In addition to that the header of the site also says "Information you probably shouldn't trust to be best" and the article was published in the category "GOLDDIGGING SATIRE WITH LOOSE 4 CARROT DIAMONDS". If after all that you still believe it to be real you should probably get help.
The owner and main writer of the site is self-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has made it his full time job to troll gullible conservatives and Trump supporters into liking and sharing his articles. He runs several other websites, including potatriotpost.us, dailyworldupdate.us and nofakenewsonline.us. Sometimes he is also known under his nickname "Busta Troll". A second man working on the sites is John Prager as revealed in this earlier story we wrote.
Articles from Blair's sites frequently get copied by "real" fake news sites who often omit the satire disclaimer and any other hints the stories are fake. Blair has tried to get these sites shut down in the past but new ones keep cropping up and he keeps knocking them down.
Blair and his operation were profiled by the Washington Post on November 17, 2018 by Eli Saslow:
'Nothing on this page is real': How lies become truth in online America
November 17 The only light in the house came from the glow of three computer monitors, and Christopher Blair, 46, sat down at a keyboard and started to type. His wife had left for work and his children were on their way to school, but waiting online was his other community, an unreality where nothing was exactly as it seemed.
If you are interested in learning more about Blair and the history of his sites, here is something to get you started:
The Ultimate Christopher Blair and America's Last Line of Defense Reading List | Lead Stories
STORY UPDATED: check for updates below. Yesterday Eli Saslow at the Washington Post wrote a fantastic article about Christopher Blair, a man from Maine who has been trolling conservatives and Trump supporters online for years and occasionally even made a living out of it.
If you see one of his stories on a site that does not contain a satire disclaimer, assume it is fake news. If you do see the satire disclaimer it is of course also fake news.
NewsGuard, a company that uses trained journalist to rank the reliability of websites, describes bebest.website as:
A site that publishes false stories and hoaxes that are often mistaken for real news, part of a network named America's Last Line of Defense run by hoax perpetrator Christopher Blair.
According to NewsGuard the site does not maintain basic standards of accuracy and accountability. Read their full assessment here.
We wrote about bebest.website before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: Stores Did NOT Report Donald Trump Action Figure is the Hottest Seller of Season
- Fake News: Lady Gaga, Hillary Clinton NOT to Perform at Superbowl Halftime
- Fake News: Trump Did NOT Divert Obama Library Funding to Veteran's Administration
- Fake News: Hillary Clinton NOT Arrested Drunk Outside of Trump Plaza Hotel
- Fake News: NO Fake Election Ballots in Georgia, Florida, Arizona Traced To Soros Compound
