A good rule of thumb about any “OMG can you believe how dumb Donald Trump is” news story is to wait 24 hours. More often than not, said story will fall apart, certain details will be proven wrong, and Trump, while not the sharpest tool in the shed, will end up not having done what he’s been accused of.

Well, it’s Groundhog Day again because we’ve got another example of a major media publication running with a garbage sourced hit piece, only to have it wilt the same day.

Townhall has the details.

How many times will the liberal media have to endure getting hit in the face with their shoddy reporting about the Trump White House? Seriously, how many stories have been utterly gutted for being straight trash? From the oodles of bombshells that were nothing burgers about Russian collusion to the bust of MLK Jr.being removed from the Oval Office, the list of fake news stories is extensive. So, it shouldn’t shock us that Politico was caught red-handed trying to bash Trump for being uninterested in a tour of Mount Vernon when French President Emmanuel Macron visited last April. Supposedly, sources said this tour was “truly bizarre,” with Trump being unengaged, asking why George Washington didn’t name any real estate after him (via Politico)

Here are some of the claims from Politico.

“If he was smart, he would’ve put his name on it,” Trump said, according to three sources briefed on the exchange. “You’ve got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you.”…

…Trump asked whether Washington was “really rich,” according to a second person familiar with the visit. In fact, Washington was either the wealthiest or among the wealthiest Americans of his time, thanks largely to his mini real estate empire.

“That is what Trump was really the most excited about,” this person said…

…Trump’s lack of interest in presidential history, said the historian Jon Meacham, means that he has “basically thrown out the one data set available to him. We don’t have anything else to study. It’s all you got.”

I love how they try to take what would have been an innocuous event (i.e. Trump not being engrossed in the tour) and try to spin it into some major scandal whereby he’s turned his back on all of history. Everything is always the end of the world with these people.

There’s a problem though. None of that actually happened the way Politico reports. 

(Emphasis added by Townhall).

Mount Vernon has a firm, long-standing policy of not commenting on the details of high-profile visits to the home of George Washington. However, we believe in the importance of ensuring that reports about events that take place at Mount Vernon are accurate. As such, we are concerned that the third-party accounts of the Trump-Macron visit released by several media outlets today do not correctly reflect the events that transpired nearly a year ago.

Mount Vernon President Doug Bradburn and Regent Sarah Coulson escorted the presidents and first ladies on a tour of the Mansion on April 23, 2018.  During the tour, all parties were interested and engaged in the story of George Washington and his beloved home.  Conversations touched on topics like business dealings, real estate, and related matters that were of relevance and interest to the touring parties, and questions were asked by both leaders with curiosity and respect. Comments pulled from sources who were not present for the tour do not properly convey the tone and context in which they were delivered. 

Mount Vernon has no reason to lie for the President here. They aren’t a political entity. Yet, they don’t mince words here. They flat out say that the “sources” in question weren’t present and that the comments claimed by Politico did not happen as described. Full stop.

As to who these “sources” were, they read like the typical #resistance warriors you’d expect.

“His supporters don’t care, and if anything they enjoy the fact that the liberal snobs are upset” that he doesn’t know much history, this person said.

The first question about any of this should have been why anyone was commenting anonymously for this story. This has nothing to do with the government, classified data, nor bureaucrats risking their jobs. That should have been the first clue the story was bogus. Any onlooker wanting to tell this tale would have had no reason to not do it on the record. Heck, it’d have probably raised their profile and got them some hits on CNN.

Is it possible Trump made some silly quips on the tour? Sure, probable even. He may have even (gasp) made some jokes. But Politico and its anonymous sources clearly sought to twist them into something worse than they were, which has been a running theme for his entire Presidency.

Our mainstream media are just garbage. These articles are simply partisan hack jobs to try to enforce the idea that the President is 1) dumb and 2) mentally ill. They’ve got their narrative and will run with it at all costs. Anonymous sources, made up sources, bad sources, whatever. It doesn’t matter to them. As long as they get their shots in, it’s all good. It’s a no-lose situation because being a mainstream media member means never having to say you are sorry.