With the presidential race between former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris tightening, the former president has begun drawing parallels between this year’s contest and his 2016 win against Hillary Clinton.
After Harris enjoyed a honeymoon campaign introduction, pollsters are narrowing the gap between the two candidates, as a recent Newsweek analysis has shown.
At a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, this week, while discussing his polling position, Trump said that the “failing” New York Times had been forced to issue an apology to its readers after he won the presidential race in 2016.
Former President Donald Trump at a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on October 9. Trump claimed at the rally that the New York Times apologized to readers after he won in 2016.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
The Claim
At a rally in Scranton, Pennsylvania, held on October 9, 2024, Trump said: “The only place we’re down, New York Times has a headline that we’re down a little bit, but they’re the only poll. Every poll, you got to see these polls they’re the best polls, New York Times, as we call it, the failing New York Times, it’s fake news, these people are sick.
“You remember in 2016 they had to do an editorial apologizing to their readers because they said he’s ‘Going to lose, he’s going to lose, I swear he’s going to lose,’ and then I won, and they lost thousands and thousands of…I love that. Can that happen again?”
The Facts
This did not happen. The New York Times did not issue an apology editorial after the 2016 election, and there’s no evidence that any such editorial led to a loss of “thousands” in what we may assume is readers or income. It is not clear what Trump has based that part of his claim on.
After the 2016 election results, the paper published a letter about the “unconventionality” of Trump’s campaign and what was an “erratic and unpredictable election.”
Principally, the letter was about how it would continue in its work after the results.
“As we reflect on the momentous result, and the months of reporting and polling that preceded it, we aim to rededicate ourselves to the fundamental mission of Times journalism,” it read.
“That is to report America and the world honestly, without fear or favor, striving always to understand and reflect all political perspectives and life experiences in the stories that we bring to you.”
The Times had printed predictions ahead of the results that Clinton had an 85 percent chance of winning. While Clinton won the popular vote, Trump easily secured the 270 Electoral College votes to take the presidency.
The letter is still online and does not contain any apology or admission of wrongdoing as Trump suggests.
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s team for comment.
This wasn’t the only misleading claim Trump made during his visit to Pennsylvania. The former president grossly overestimated how many people turned up to his return to the Butler Farm Show grounds, the site of his assassination attempt in July.
Trump claimed to have attracted 100,000 people, but Newsweek’s analysis shows that, based on modeling and expert testimony, the number had to have been lower than 57,000.
The Ruling
False.
The New York Times did not apologize to its readers after Trump won the presidential election in 2016. The paper wrote an editorial addressing the “unpredictable election” and its goal of maintaining journalistic integrity. The claim that this editorial cost the paper “thousands” in either readers or income is unevidenced.
FACT CHECK BY Newsweek’s Fact Check team
