Did President Trump invoke Article 9 of the U.S. Constitution to begin the prosecution of Democrats for treason? No, that's not true: First, there is no Article 9 to the U.S. Constiution, which has seven articles. And this is a satirical story created by a website that publishes fake content aimed at a conservative audience.
The claim originated from an article published by DailyWorldUpdate.com on January 30, 2020, titled "Trump Invokes Article 9 To Begin Prosecution Of Democrats For Treason" (archived here) which opened:
The Democrats have been planning and pushing forward their fake impeachment scam for three years now. From the moment that President Trump set foot in the White House, the socialist plot to remove him had begun.
Their case is without evidence and without merit. It doesn't meet even the most minimum judicial standards for a legal prosecution. Indeed, it is not a prosecution, but a persecution. In fact, it meets all the legal requirements to qualify as a coup.
Users on social media only saw this title, description and thumbnail:
Trump Invokes Article 9 To Begin Prosecution Of Democrats For Treason
The Democrats have been planning and pushing forward their fake impeachment scam for three years now. From the moment that President Trump set foot in the White House, the socialist plot to remove ...
Not only is there no Article 9, Trump has not taken action to charge Democrats with treason. While the site that first published this story has several labels making it known that it is satirical, many other websites steal th story and republish it without the satire labels - positing it as real news that then gets shared over and over on social media.
The site 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.
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 wearethellod.com, bustatroll.org or bebest.website. 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.
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 dailyworldupdate.us as:
A news site that publishes false stories and hoaxes that are often mistaken for real news. The site is part of a network 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 dailyworldupdate.us before. Here are our most recent articles that mention the site:
- Fake News: Malia Obama NOT Busted Selling Priceless White House Trinkets
- Fake News: Clarence Thomas Did NOT Say SCOTUS Is Ready To 'Crush The Coup Against President Trump'
- Fake News: Justice Roberts Does NOT Call Impeachment Vote 'Immoral And Possibly Illegal'
- Fake News: Nancy Pelosi Did NOT Approve $4.8 Million In 'Impeachment Consulting Fees' To Clinton Foundation
- Fake News: Greta Thunberg Has NOT Been Lying To The World About Her Age
