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Trump Graduation
Background Information
From News Guard, May 5, 2024: Social media users claim that former U.S. President Donald Trump did not attend the high school graduations of any of his four older children.
This is a false narrative that circulated after Trump, during his Manhattan hush-money trial, accused New York Judge Juan Merchan of barring him from attending his youngest son Barron’s upcoming graduation from Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A closer look: Anti-Trump social media users, including liberal bloggers Jeff Pearlman and Andrew Wortman, capitalized on the media attention surrounding Barron’s graduation, claiming the former president was a no-show at his other childrens’ commencement ceremonies.
The narrative first gained significant attention from an April 15, 2024, X post by Pearlman. He listed the graduation dates of Trump’s four older children and stated, “Donald Trump failed to attend graduation.” He continued: “In 1996, Donald Trump, Jr. graduated from the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Donald Trump failed to attend graduation…” Pearlman’s post, which has since been deleted, had 2.1 million views as of April 16, 2024.
Similarly, Wortman told his 245,000 followers on X, “Donald Trump did not attend the High School graduation ceremonies for: Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka, or Tiffany.” Wortman’s post had 702,000 views as of April 23, 2024.
The false narrative was also advanced in an April 17, 2024, episode of Political Beatdown, a podcast covering the multiple criminal cases against Trump. In the episode, the podcast’s co-host, civil rights lawyer Ben Meiselas, read Pearlman’s X post on-air. Meiselas prefaced his reading of Pearlman’s post by stating, “This is from Jeff Pearlman's research — a good reporter.”
Actually: Trump attended each graduation.
Donald Trump Jr.: A photo of Donald Trump Jr.’s graduation from Pennsylvania’s The Hill School in 1996, provided to Snopes (Trust Score: 100/100) by a classmate of Trump Jr., shows former President Trump in attendance with his wife at the time, Marla Maples.
Ivanka Trump: According to an April 2016 article in The Choate News — the official student newspaper of Ivanka Trump’s private Connecticut boarding school, Choate Rosemary Hall — Trump was at Ivanka’s graduation in 2000.
Eric Trump: Frank Runyeon, a writer for legal news publication Law360 and a high school classmate of Eric Trump’s, said in an April 17 X post that the elder Trump was present at his son’s graduation from The Hill School, a Pennsylvania boarding school, in 2002.
Tiffany Trump: A November 2016 opinion article in the Los Angeles Times (Trust Score: 92.5/100), written by a classmate of Trump’s younger daughter, Tiffany Trump, reported that Trump sat in the third row at Tiffany Trump’s graduation from the Los Angeles-based Viewpoint School in 2012.
All’s well that ends well: On April 30, Judge Merchan announced that Trump could take off Barron’s graduation day, May 17, from court. Initially, it was unclear whether the trial would proceed in his absence. However, The New York Times (Trust Score: 87.5/100) later reported that Judge Merchan clarified that court would not be in session on that day.
This is a false narrative that circulated after Trump, during his Manhattan hush-money trial, accused New York Judge Juan Merchan of barring him from attending his youngest son Barron’s upcoming graduation from Oxbridge Academy in West Palm Beach, Florida.
A closer look: Anti-Trump social media users, including liberal bloggers Jeff Pearlman and Andrew Wortman, capitalized on the media attention surrounding Barron’s graduation, claiming the former president was a no-show at his other childrens’ commencement ceremonies.
The narrative first gained significant attention from an April 15, 2024, X post by Pearlman. He listed the graduation dates of Trump’s four older children and stated, “Donald Trump failed to attend graduation.” He continued: “In 1996, Donald Trump, Jr. graduated from the Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. Donald Trump failed to attend graduation…” Pearlman’s post, which has since been deleted, had 2.1 million views as of April 16, 2024.
Similarly, Wortman told his 245,000 followers on X, “Donald Trump did not attend the High School graduation ceremonies for: Don Jr, Eric, Ivanka, or Tiffany.” Wortman’s post had 702,000 views as of April 23, 2024.
The false narrative was also advanced in an April 17, 2024, episode of Political Beatdown, a podcast covering the multiple criminal cases against Trump. In the episode, the podcast’s co-host, civil rights lawyer Ben Meiselas, read Pearlman’s X post on-air. Meiselas prefaced his reading of Pearlman’s post by stating, “This is from Jeff Pearlman's research — a good reporter.”
Actually: Trump attended each graduation.
Donald Trump Jr.: A photo of Donald Trump Jr.’s graduation from Pennsylvania’s The Hill School in 1996, provided to Snopes (Trust Score: 100/100) by a classmate of Trump Jr., shows former President Trump in attendance with his wife at the time, Marla Maples.
Ivanka Trump: According to an April 2016 article in The Choate News — the official student newspaper of Ivanka Trump’s private Connecticut boarding school, Choate Rosemary Hall — Trump was at Ivanka’s graduation in 2000.
Eric Trump: Frank Runyeon, a writer for legal news publication Law360 and a high school classmate of Eric Trump’s, said in an April 17 X post that the elder Trump was present at his son’s graduation from The Hill School, a Pennsylvania boarding school, in 2002.
Tiffany Trump: A November 2016 opinion article in the Los Angeles Times (Trust Score: 92.5/100), written by a classmate of Trump’s younger daughter, Tiffany Trump, reported that Trump sat in the third row at Tiffany Trump’s graduation from the Los Angeles-based Viewpoint School in 2012.
All’s well that ends well: On April 30, Judge Merchan announced that Trump could take off Barron’s graduation day, May 17, from court. Initially, it was unclear whether the trial would proceed in his absence. However, The New York Times (Trust Score: 87.5/100) later reported that Judge Merchan clarified that court would not be in session on that day.
Technique Used
Attack Opponents
This is propaganda because
It is false information spread widely and intentionally designed to damage people's perception of former President Donald Trump/
Source
News Guard
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