White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders declined to say whether Trump had known that the cover wasn’t real. The Trump Organization did not respond to questions this week about who made the cover and why it was displayed at Trump clubs. So how did Trump - who spent an entire campaign and much of his presidency accusing the mainstream media of producing “fake news” - wind up decorating his properties with a literal piece of phony journalism? Tuesday, a spokeswoman for Time said that the magazine had asked the Trump Organization to remove the phony cover from the walls where it was on display. Right: Angel Valentin for The Washington Post)Īt 5 p.m.
The real Time cover, left, and the fake Donald Trump cover. “I can confirm that this is not a real TIME cover,” Kerri Chyka, a spokeswoman for Time Inc., wrote in an email to The Washington Post. The Trump cover’s secondary headlines are stacked on the right side - on a real Time cover, they would go across the top.Īnd it has two exclamation points.
Its red border is skinnier than that of a genuine Time cover, and, unlike the real thing, there is no thin white border next to the red. In fact, the cover on display at Trump’s clubs, observed recently by a reporter visiting one of the properties, contains several small but telling mistakes. And there was no issue at all in 2009 that had Trump on the cover. There was no March 1, 2009, issue of Time magazine.
Even when he was just a reality TV star, Trump was the kind of star who got a cover story in Time. To club members eating lunch, or golfers waiting for a pro-shop purchase, it seemed to be a signal that Trump had always been a man who mattered. This cover - dated Malooks like an impressive memento from Trump’s pre-presidential career. Above the Time nameplate, there was another headline in all caps: “TRUMP IS HITTING ON ALL FRONTS. “Donald Trump: The ‘Apprentice’ is a television smash!” the big headline said.
Filling the entire cover was a photo of Donald Trump. The framed copy of Time magazine was hung up in at least five of President Trump’s clubs, from South Florida to Scotland.