alternative facts

On January 21, 2017, while White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer held his first press briefing, he accused the media of deliberately underestimating the size of the crowd for President Trump's first inaugural ceremony the day before and stated that the ceremony had drawn the "largest audience to ever witness an inauguration – period – both in person and around the globe". According to rapid transit ridership data and photographic evidence, Spicer's claims and allegations were false.{{cite news |author-first=Brian |author-last=Stelter |url=https://money.cnn.com/2017/01/21/media/sean-spicer-press-secretary-statement/ |title=White House press secretary attacks media for accurately reporting inauguration crowds |publisher=CNN |date=January 21, 2017 |access-date=January 21, 2017}}{{cite news |author-first1=Tim |author-last1=Wallace |author-first2=Karen |author-last2=Yourish |author-first3=Troy |author-last3=Griggs |title=Trump's Inauguration vs. Obama's: Comparing the Crowds |url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/20/us/politics/trump-inauguration-crowd.html |newspaper=The New York Times|date=January 20, 2017 }}{{cite news |url=https://www.nzz.ch/international/zuschauerzahl-bei-vereidigung-trump-beraterin-spricht-von-alternativen-fakten-zu-amtseinfuehrung-ld.141240 |title=Die Parallelwelt des Trump-Teams: "Alternative Fakten sind Lügen" |author-first=Ivo |author-last=Mijnssen |work=Neue Zürcher Zeitung |language=de |date=January 23, 2017 |access-date=January 25, 2017}} Aerial images showed that the turnout for Trump's inauguration was lower than the turnout for the 2009 inauguration of Barack Obama. Spicer claimed that 420,000 people rode the D.C. Metro on inauguration day 2017, compared to 317,000 in 2013. He did not offer a source for his claim, or clarify the time periods being compared. Actual ridership figures between midnight and 11 AM were 193,000 in 2017 and 317,000 in 2013.{{cite news |url=http://www.haaretz.com/us-news/1.766775 |title=Alt-fact: Trump's White House threatens war on media over 'unfair attacks' |work=Haaretz |agency=Reuters |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 23, 2017}}{{cite news |url=http://www.seattletimes.com/news/fact-checking-the-white-house-alternative-facts/ |title=Fact-checking the White House 'alternative facts' |author-first=Nicholas |author-last=Fandos |work=The Seattle Times |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 23, 2017}} Full-day ridership was 570,557 in 2017 and 782,000 in 2013.{{cite news |url=http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/jan/21/sean-spicer/trump-had-biggest-inaugural-crowd-ever-metrics-don/ |title=Donald Trump had biggest inaugural crowd ever? Metrics don't show it |author-last=Qiu |author-first=Linda |date=January 21, 2017 |publisher=Politifact |access-date=February 2, 2017}}

Spicer also gave incorrect information about the use of white ground coverings during the inauguration. He stated that they were used for the first time during the Trump inauguration and were to blame for a visual effect that made the audience look smaller. The white ground coverings, however, had been used in 2013 when Obama was sworn in for the second term.{{cite news |url=https://www.buzzfeed.com/salvadorhernandez/president-trumps-spokesman-just-lied-about-the-size-of-the-i |title=President Trump's Spokesman Just Lied About The Size Of The Inauguration Crowd |publisher=BuzzFeed |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017}} Spicer did not take questions from the media at the press briefing.{{cite news |author-last=Cillizza |author-first=Chris |author-link=Chris Cillizza |title=Sean Spicer held a press conference. He didn't take questions. Or tell the whole truth. |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/21/sean-spicer-held-a-press-conference-he-didnt-take-questions-or-tell-the-whole-truth/ |access-date=January 22, 2017 |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 21, 2017}}

File:Kellyanne Conway by Gage Skidmore 3.jpg, who used the phrase originally ]]

Trump's campaign strategist and counselor, Kellyanne Conway, defended Spicer's statements in a Meet the Press interview. In response to a question from Todd about Trump's false claims regarding the inauguration crowd and the loss of credibility, Conway said:

Our press secretary, Sean Spicer, gave alternative facts to that, but the point remains that...

Todd interrupted her by saying "Wait a minute. Alternative facts? ... Alternative facts are not facts. They're falsehoods."{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2017/01/22/kellyanne-conway-says-donald-trumps-team-has-alternate-facts-which-pretty-much-says-it-all/ |title=Kellyanne Conway says Donald Trump's team has 'alternative facts'. Which pretty much says it all. |newspaper=The Washington Post|date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017 |last=Blake |first=Aaron}} In her answer, Conway argued that crowd numbers in general could not be assessed with certainty and objected to what she described as Todd's trying to make her look ridiculous.{{cite news |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/the-pointless-needless-lies-of-the-trump-administration/514061/ |title='Alternative Facts': The Needless Lies of the Trump Administration |work=The Atlantic |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017 |last=Graham |first=David}}{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/22/donald-trump-kellyanne-conway-inauguration-alternative-facts |title=Trump presidency begins with defense of false 'alternative facts' |work=The Guardian|date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017 |last=Swaine |first=Jon}}{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/trailguide/la-na-trailguide-updates-inflated-numbers-for-trump-team-defends-1485107769-htmlstory.html |title=Trump aides defend inflated inauguration figures as 'alternative facts' |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017 |author-last=Bennett |author-first=Brian}}

Conway later defended her choice of words, defining "alternative facts" as "additional facts and alternative information".

Two days later, Spicer corrected his statements concerning the WMATA ridership levels, stating that he had been relying on statistics "given to him". He stood by his widely disputed claim that the inauguration was the most-viewed, stating he also included online viewership in addition to in-person and television in his figures.{{cite news |last1=Grynbaum |first1=Michael M. |title=Sean Spicer, Trump's Press Secretary, Reboots His Relationship With the Press |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/23/business/media/sean-spicer-trump-press-secretary.html |date=January 23, 2017 |work=The New York Times |access-date=January 24, 2017}}{{cite news |last1=Berger |first1=Judson |title=Spicer Changes Up Format at WH Briefings, Moves to Hit Reset with Press |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/spicer-changes-up-format-at-wh-briefings-moves-to-hit-reset-with-press/ |date=January 23, 2017 |publisher=Fox News Channel |access-date=January 24, 2017}}

During the week following Conway's comments, she discussed "alternative facts", substituting the phrases "alternative information" and "incomplete information".{{cite news |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/a-conversation-kellyanne-conway-im-face-trumps-movement-968579 |title=A Conversation With Kellyanne Conway: 'I'm the Face of Trump's Movement' |work=The Hollywood Reporter |date=January 26, 2017 |access-date=January 27, 2017 |author-last=Wolff |author-first=Michael}} Two days after the Todd interview she defended Trump's travel restrictions by talking about a nonexistent "Bowling Green massacre" (she later said she was referring to the arrest of two Iraqis in Bowling Green, Kentucky, for sending aid to insurgents in Iraq), and by falsely claiming that President Obama in 2011 had "banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months".{{cite news |url=https://www.usnews.com/opinion/views-you-can-use/articles/2017-02-03/kellyanne-conway-gets-facts-wrong-on-bowling-green-massacre |title=Kellyanne Conway's 'Alternative Facts' |last=Hoefer |first=Hayley |date=February 3, 2017 |work=U.S. News & World Report |access-date=February 3, 2017}}{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2017/02/03/trump-adviser-invents-bowling-green-massacre-defense-refugee-ban/97436748/ |title=Kellyanne Conway on Bowling Green 'massacre': I meant 'terrorists' |last=Hjelmgaard |first=Kim |date=February 3, 2017 |work=USA Today |access-date=February 3, 2017}} Her false statements were described as having "taken 'alternative facts' to a new level".{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/02/03/kellyanne-conway-cites-bowling-green-massacre-that-never-happened-to-defend-travel-ban/ |last=Schmidt|first=Samantha |title=Kellyanne Conway cites 'Bowling Green massacre' that never happened to defend travel ban |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=February 3, 2017 |access-date=February 3, 2017}}

The phrase "alternative facts" was claimed to be similar to a phrase used in Trump's 1987 book, Trump: The Art of the Deal.{{cite news |author-last=Micek |author-first=John L. |title=Memo to Kellyanne Conway, there is no such thing as 'alternative facts': John L. Micek |url=http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017/01/memo_to_kellyanne_conway_-_alt.html |access-date=January 25, 2017 |work=The Patriot-News |date=January 22, 2017}}{{cite news |author-last=Werner |author-first=Erica |title=GOP Congress grapples with Trump's 'alternative facts' |url=http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/politics/2017/01/24/gop-congress-grapples-trumps-alternative-facts/96998034/ |work=The Detroit News |agency=Associated Press}} In that book, "truthful hyperbole" was described as "an innocent form of exaggeration—and ... a very effective form of promotion". The book claimed that "people want to believe that something is the biggest and the greatest and the most spectacular". The ghostwriter of the book, Tony Schwartz, said he coined that phrase and claimed that Trump "loved it".{{cite news |author-last=Mayer |author-first=Jane |title=Donald Trump's Ghostwriter Tells All |url=http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2016/07/25/donald-trumps-ghostwriter-tells-all |access-date=January 25, 2017 |magazine=The New Yorker |date=July 25, 2016}}{{cite news |title=Column: 'Alternative facts' play to Americans' fantasies |url=http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/page/ct-alternative-facts-kellyanne-conway-trump-perspec-0125-20170124-story.html |newspaper=Chicago Tribune |date=January 24, 2017 |access-date=January 25, 2017 |author-last=Page |author-first=Clarence |author-link=Clarence Page}}

Conway later defended her remarks in an interview published in March 2017: "Two plus two is four. Three plus one is four. Partly cloudy, partly sunny. Glass half full, glass half empty. Those are alternative facts." In a radio interview with Mark Simone that was described by Salon in February 2018, she claimed that professional fact-checkers tend to be political liberals and are "selecting what [they] think should be fact-checked ... Americans are their own fact checkers. People know, they have their own facts and figures, in terms of meaning which facts and figures are important to them."{{cite news |last1=May |first1=Charlie |title=Kellyanne Conway: The American people 'have their own facts' |url=https://www.salon.com/2018/02/01/kellyanne-conway-the-american-people-have-their-own-set-of-facts/ |access-date=February 2, 2018 |work=Salon|date=February 1, 2018}}

Spicer's press conference and Conway's follow-up comments drew quick reactions on social media. Journalist Dan Rather posted a criticism of the incoming Trump administration on his Facebook page.{{cite news |url=http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/media/dan-rather-takes-to-facebook-to-blast-president-trumps-alternative-facts/2310462 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170123055351/http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/media/dan-rather-takes-to-facebook-to-blast-president-trumps-alternative-facts/2310462 |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 23, 2017 |title=Dan Rather takes to Facebook to blast President Trump's 'alternative facts' |work=Tampa Bay Times |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017}}{{cite news |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/315555-dan-rather-on-trump-these-are-not-normal-times/ |title=Dan Rather on Trump: 'These are not normal times' |work=The Hill |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017 |last=Calfas |first=Jennifer}} Rather wrote:{{cite web |url=https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158087282405716&id=24085780715&__tn__=*s |title=Dan Rather Facebook post |via=Facebook |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017 |last=Rather |first=Dan |author-link=Dan Rather}}

{{blockquote|These are not normal times. These are extraordinary times. And extraordinary times call for extraordinary measures. When you have a spokesperson for the president of the United States wrap up a lie in the Orwellian phrase "alternative facts". ... When you have a press secretary in his first appearance before the White House reporters threaten, bully, lie, and then walk out of the briefing room without the cojones to answer a single question ... Facts and the truth are not partisan. They are the bedrock of our democracy. And you are either with them, with us, with our Constitution, our history, and the future of our nation, or you are against it. Everyone must answer that question.}}

The New York Times responded with a fact check of statements made during Spicer's press conference.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/politics/president-trump-inauguration-crowd-white-house.html |title=White House Pushes Alternative Facts. Here Are the Real Ones |work=The New York Times |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=January 22, 2017 |last=Fandos |first=Nicholas}} This included a side-by-side photographic comparison of the crowds from Obama's 2009 inauguration and that of Trump.

Journalist and former New York Times executive editor Jill Abramson characterized Conway's comments about alternative facts as "Orwellian newspeak", and said {{"'}}Alternative facts' are just lies".{{cite news |last=Abramson |first=Jill |author-link=Jill Abramson |url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jan/23/kellyanne-conway-alternative-facts-lies |title=Sorry, Kellyanne Conway. 'Alternative facts' are just lies |work=The Guardian |date=January 23, 2017 |access-date=January 23, 2017}} NBC News quoted two experts on the psychology of lying who said that the Trump administration was engaging in gaslighting,{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/health/mental-health/some-experts-say-trump-team-s-falsehoods-are-classic-gaslighting-n711021 |title=Some Experts Say Trump Team's Falsehoods Are Classic 'Gaslighting' |publisher=NBC News |date=January 25, 2017 |access-date=February 7, 2017 |last=Fox |first=Maggie}} and reported that the domain name alternativefacts.com (offline) had been purchased and redirected to an article in Psychology Today on gaslighting.{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/alternativefacts-com-links-magazine-story-about-gaslighting-n712896 |title=Alternativefacts.com Links to Magazine Story About Gaslighting |publisher=NBC News |date=January 27, 2017 |access-date=February 7, 2017 |last1=Melvin |first1=Don |last2=Calabrese |first2=Erin}}{{cite web |url=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/here-there-and-everywhere/201701/gaslighting-know-it-and-identify-it-protect-yourself |title=Gaslighting: Know It and Identify It to Protect Yourself |work=Psychology Today |date=January 22, 2017 |access-date=February 7, 2017 |last=Sarkis |first=Stephanie}}

The Merriam-Webster dictionary website reported that lookups for the word "fact" spiked after Conway used the phrase "alternative facts". They also got involved by tweeting about it: "A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality." The tweet included a link to their articleMerriam-Webster Trend Watch (January 22, 2017): [https://www.merriam-webster.com/news-trend-watch/conway-alternative-facts-20170122 "Conway: 'Alternative Facts' Lookups for 'fact' spiked after Kellyanne Conway described false statements as 'alternative facts{{'"}}]. Retrieved January 23, 2017. about Conway's use of the term.{{cite tweet|user=MerriamWebster|title=A fact is a piece of information presented as having objective reality.|number=823221915171061760|date=January 22, 2017}}{{Cite web |last=Kircher |first=Madison Malone |date=January 23, 2017 |title=The Dictionary Attempts to Remind Kellyanne Conway What the Definition of 'Fact' Is |work=New York Magazine|url=http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/01/merriam-webster-tweets-facts-definition-for-kellyanne-conway.html |access-date=January 31, 2017 }}{{Cite web |last=Raphelson |first=Samantha |date=January 26, 2017 |title=The Merriam-Webster Dictionary Has Been Trolling Trump On Twitter For Months |publisher=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2017/01/26/511694558/the-merriam-webster-dictionary-has-been-trolling-trump-for-months |access-date=January 31, 2017 }}

Following Conway's Meet the Press interview and the viral response on social media in which "alternative facts" was likened to doublethink and Newspeak, terms from George Orwell's dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four, sales of the book increased by more than 9,500 percent, rising to the number one best-selling book on Amazon.com. The New York Times and others attributed this to Conway's statement. Penguin, the book's publisher, ordered a 75,000 unit reprint to meet demand.{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/01/25/sales-of-orwells-1984-spike-after-kellyanne-conways-alternative-facts/ |title=Sales of Orwell's '1984' spike after Kellyanne Conway's 'alternative facts' |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=January 25, 2017 |access-date=January 25, 2017 |last=Andrews |first=Travis}}{{cite magazine |url=http://fortune.com/2017/01/25/donald-trump-kellyanne-conway-alternative-facts-1984-george-orwell/ |title=The Publisher of '1984' Just Ordered a Massive Reprint for the Age of 'Alternative Facts' |magazine=Fortune |date=January 25, 2017 |access-date=January 25, 2017 |last=Shen |first=Lucinda}}{{cite magazine |url=http://ew.com/books/2017/01/25/1984-no-1-kellyanny-conway-alternative-facts/ |title=1984 hits No. 1 on Amazon after Kellyanne Conway's 'alternative facts' quote |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |date=January 25, 2017 |access-date=January 25, 2017 |last=Goodman |first=Jessica}}

Snopes journalist Alex Kasprak noted that a passage from Carl Sagan's book The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark became a viral meme about alternative facts after the inauguration of Trump; Kasprak commented "the proffered description of that nightmare was authentic".{{cite web |title=Is This Carl Sagan's 'Foreboding of an America'? |url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/carl-sagans-foreboding-of-an-america/ |website=Snopes |date=January 23, 2017 |access-date=26 June 2021}}

On January 24, 2017, the Public Relations Society of America, a public relations trade group, put out a statement that said "Encouraging and perpetuating the use of alternative facts by a high-profile spokesperson reflects poorly on all communications professionals."{{cite news |title=PRSA Statement on 'Alternative Facts' |url=http://media.prsa.org/news-releases/prsa-opinions-and-commentary/prsa-makes-statement-on-alternative-facts.htm |access-date=January 25, 2017 |publisher=Public Relations Society of America |date=January 24, 2017 |archive-date=January 28, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170128124422/http://media.prsa.org/news-releases/prsa-opinions-and-commentary/prsa-makes-statement-on-alternative-facts.htm |url-status=dead}}{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2017/01/trump-alternative-facts-234138 |title=Public relations association rebukes Trump's White House on 'alternative facts' |work=Politico |date=January 2, 2017 |access-date=January 25, 2017 |last=Conway |first=Madeline}}

In a Breitbart News article dated January 23, 2017, editor Joel Pollak defended Conway's use of "alternative facts" by arguing that it was a "harmless, and accurate term in a legal setting, where each side of a dispute will lay out its own version of the facts for the court to decide". However, The Guardian noted that "[a] search of several online legal dictionaries did not yield any results for the term."{{cite news |last1=Gabbatt |first1=Adam |title=Even rightwing sites call out Trump administration over 'alternative facts' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jan/23/rightwing-sites-trump-administration-alternative-facts |work=The Guardian|date=January 23, 2017}}

On February 23, 2017, fifteen professors of law, some of whom are themselves obliged to adhere to the District of Columbia Bar Association's Rule of Professional Conduct, rule 8.4(a), filed a disciplinary complaint with the D.C. Bar's Office of Disciplinary Conduct. Their complaint applies against Conway, a lawyer in public office, on the grounds that under rule 8.4(c): "It is professional misconduct for a lawyer to engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation", because of Conway's pattern of misrepresentation as well as her misuse of words such as "massacre" at a time when she holds high public office. The letter of complaint makes a specific reference to the use of the phrase "alternative facts" as being involved in one of the cases of alleged misconduct, citing as a reference for its claim an opinion article by The New York Times op-ed columnist Nicholas Fandos.Sari Horwitz, [https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/law-professors-file-misconduct-complaint-against-kellyanne-conway/2017/02/23/442b02c8-f9e3-11e6-bf01-d47f8cf9b643_story.html "Law professors file misconduct complaint against Kellyanne Conway"]. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 23, 2017.

• [https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-misconduct-complaint-sent-by-law-professors-against-white-house-counsel-kellyanne-conway/2346/ "Read the misconduct complaint sent by law professors against White House Counsel Kellyanne Conway"]. The Washington Post. Retrieved February 23, 2017. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215034537/http://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/documents/national/read-the-misconduct-complaint-sent-by-law-professors-against-white-house-counsel-kellyanne-conway/2346/ |date=February 15, 2021 }}
• {{cite news |author=Nicholas Fandos |author-link=Nicholas Fandos |title=White House Pushes 'Alternative Facts.' Here Are the Real Ones. |date=January 22, 2017 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/politics/president-trump-inauguration-crowd-white-house.html}}

The term alternative facts became a mainstay in popular culture, from late night comedians to serious news outlets. Jimmy Fallon created a segment "Two Truths and an Alternative Fact" on The Tonight Show.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/23/arts/television/jimmy-fallon-alternative-facts-colbert.html |title=Jimmy Fallon Offers His Own 'Alternative Facts' |website=The New York Times |date=February 23, 2017 |last1=Russonello |first1=Giovanni}} Stephen Colbert criticized Conway for saying she was not Inspector Gadget or "in the job of having evidence"{{cite news |url=https://edition.cnn.com/videos/us/2017/03/13/conway-wiretapping-investigation-newday.cnn |title=Conway: I'm not Inspector Gadget |date=March 13, 2017}} on The Late Show, claiming "Kellyanne Conway has only one move: 'Go, go, alternative facts!{{'"}}{{cite news |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/3308373/stephen-colbert-mocks-kellyanne-conway-replaces-set-cameras-with-microwaves/ |title=Stephen Colbert mocks Kellyanne Conway |work = Global News|date = 14 March 2017|first = Katie|last = Scott}}

CNN's ad campaign "Facts First" was a direct response to the concept of alternative facts and fake news.{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vckz6EAn30Y |title=CNN – 'This is an Apple' ad |via=YouTube}} USA Today listed it in their "Glossary of Trump terms".{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/01/16/alternative-facts-witch-hunt-glossary-trump-terms/1029963001/ |title='Alternative facts' to 'witch hunt': A glossary of Trump terms |website=USA Today}}

Both Robert De Niro and Steven Spielberg referred to alternative facts in their acceptance speech at the National Board of Review awards for the Spielberg film The Post. Spielberg said: "We are in a fight and it's a fight not just about alternative facts but it's a fight for the objective truth."{{cite web |url=http://popculture.com/movies/2018/01/10/robert-de-niro-bashes-donald-trump-nbr-awards/ |title=Robert De Niro Mocks President Trump in Profanity-Laced Tirade at NBR Awards|date=January 10, 2018 }}

The 2017 short film Alternative Math is a satire about the absurdity of the concept of alternative facts.{{cite web |url=https://www.dmagazine.com/arts-entertainment/2017/11/watch-three-subversive-comedies-for-free-online/ |title=Watch Three Subversive Comedies For Free Online |last1=Knecht |first1=Lyndsay |last2=Lester |first2=Demetria |date=November 24, 2017 |website=D Magazine |access-date=July 8, 2018}}

On January 16, 2018, German linguists declared the phrase "alternative facts" the un-word of the year 2017.{{cite news |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/onpolitics/2018/01/16/alternative-facts-witch-hunt-glossary-trump-terms/1029963001/ |title='Alternative Facts' Is 2017's Non-Word of the Year, German Linguists Declare |website=USA Today}} It was also chosen by Austrian linguists as the un-word of the year in December 2017.{{Cite news|url=https://diepresse.com/home/panorama/oesterreich/5334483/Vollholler-zum-rotweissroten-Wort-des-Jahres-gewaehlt|title='Vollholler' zum rot-weiß-roten Wort des Jahres gewählt|work=Die Presse|access-date=January 18, 2018|language=de}}

{{div col|colwidth=30em}}

• Bowling Green massacre
• Credibility gap
• Consensus reality
• False or misleading statements by Donald Trump
• Gaslighting – a colloquialism defined as manipulating someone into questioning their own perception of reality
• It Wasn't Me
• Political gaffe
• Post-truth politics
• Reality-based community
• Stylized fact
• Terminological inexactitude
• Truthiness

{{div col end}}

{{Reflist|30em}}

• {{cite book |title=Post-Truth: The New War on Truth and How to Fight Back |first=Matthew |last=d'Ancona |year=2017|publisher=Ebury Press |isbn=978-1785036873}}
• {{cite book |title=Alternative Facts: Fake News, Tweets & the 2016 Election Paperback|year=2017 |first=William |last=Goodspeed |publisher=Satirical Press International |isbn=978-0998885308}}
• {{cite book |title=Alternative Facts Journal |year=2017 |first=Abrams |last=Noterie |publisher=Harry N. Abrams |isbn=978-1419728846}}

{{wiktionary|alternative fact}}

• {{youTube|id=VSrEEDQgFc8|title=Kellyanne Conway Meet the Press interview with Chuck Todd}}
• [https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2017-01-27/trump-s-long-embrace-of-alternative-facts "Trump's Long Embrace of Alternative Facts"] Bloomberg View

{{Disinformation}}

Category:2017 controversies in the United States

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