Did a "Governor's Conference" vote 32-12 to impeach Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi]? 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 by Daily World Update on May 24, 2019 titled "Governor's Conference Votes 32-18 to Impeach Nancy Pelosi" (archived here) which opened:
The United States Constitution calls for three steps to remove a Speaker of the House from power. First, the White House has to file impeachment papers in court, which RUDY GIULIANI DID already. Next, the Conference of American Governors has to enter a supermajority vote of "no confidence" in the public record.
This morning, that vote was entered as 2 Democrats joined 30 Republicans in securing the needed numbers. The vote will be recorded by the Secretary of State and delivered to the Senate for the third and final step in the impeachment process.
New Hampshire Lieutenant Governor Art Tubolls said it was "awe-inspiring" to be a part of such a historic event.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Governor's Conference Votes 32-18 to Impeach Nancy Pelosi
The dominos are falling.
There is a satire disclaimer in the very thumbnail image of the post and there are several more on the page itself. The article was posted under the category "The Fictional Impeachment of Nancy Pelosi". The name "Art Tubolls" is an anagram for "Busta Troll", the owner of the site. And of course members of Congress are not subject to impeachment. So every reasonable person should understand that the story was just a joke.
However on June 3, 2019 links to the story were posted on several pro-Trump Facebook groups and the article went viral again because many people believed it was real.
The site is part of the "America's Last Line of Defense" network of satire websites run byself-professed liberal troll Christopher Blair from Maine along with a loose confederation of friends and allies. Blair has been in a feud with fact checking website Snopes for some time now and has also criticized other fact checkers in the past who labeled his work "fake news" instead of satire. In reaction to this he has recently rebranded all his active websites and Facebook pages so they carry extremely visible disclaimers everywhere.
Every site in the network has an about page that reads (in part):
About Satire
Before you complain and decide satire is synonymous with "comedy":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.Everything on this website is fiction. It is not a lie and it is not fake news because it is not real. If you believe that it is real, you should have your head examined. Any similarities between this site's pure fantasy and actual people, places, and events are purely coincidental and all images should be considered altered and satirical. See above if you're still having an issue with that satire thing.
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. That happened promptly with this story too, it was copied by a Macedonian-run fake news site and presented as real news:
Governor's Conference Votes 32-18 to Impeach Nancy Pelosi - Fight For America
The United States Constitution calls for three steps to remove a Speaker of the House from power. First, the White House has to file impeachment papers in court, which RUDY GIULIANI DID already. Next, the Conference of American Governors has to enter a supermajority vote of "no confidence" in the public record.
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.
We wrote about dailyworldupdate.us before, here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: Pelosi Did NOT Insult Melania, Did NOT Call Her 'The Hired Help Wife'
- Fake News: Ocasio-Cortez And Omar Did NOT Vow To Remove Senior's 'Entitlements', Social Security/Medicare
- Fake News: Ocasio-Cortez Does NOT Want to Take Guns Away From Cops
- Fake News: Pelosi's Office Did NOT Spend More on Alcohol Last Year Than Food
- Fake News: Robert DeNiro Did NOT Lose $40 Million Reunion Contract, Did NOT Blame Trump
