Phoenix fake-news writer comes clean on Donald Trump
Phoenix fake-news writer comes clean on Donald Trump
Kaila White , The Republic | azcentral.com
1:05 p.m. MST November 17, 2016
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Meet the 38-year-old Arizona man who thinks his lies helped get Donald Trump elected to the U.S. presidency.
Paul Horner, a Phoenix resident and king of fake news on Facebook, is the subject of a revealing Q&A published
Thursday by the Washington Post.
Horner is a local stand-up comedian and for years has written hugely viral, utterly fake stories and made a lot of money off of it. A quick search for his name reveals these Arizona hoaxes:
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World's Biggest Starbucks Opening In Phoenix AZ: Roller Coaster, Underground Water Slide & Robot Baristas.
In February 2015 The Arizona Republic published a story on Horner's hoax that British street artist Banksy created a painting on the Lost Leaf Bar and Gallery in Phoenix (where Horner regularly hosted the Mystery Show – imagine that.)
While he may have considered those hoaxes to be harmless, he told the Washington Post that he is surprised and upset about how much people believed his political "satire" during the U.S. election.
Donald Trump’s son Eric, his then-campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and conservative pundit Ann Coulter tweeted links this year to his fake article “Donald Trump Protester Speaks Out: ‘I Was Paid $3,500 To Protest Trump’s Rally'.”
He said he "posted a fake ad on Craigslist" and completely made up the story.
'I think Trump is in the White House because of me'
Horner told the Washington Post that "people are definitely dumber. They just keep passing stuff around. Nobody fact-checks anything anymore — I mean, that’s how Trump got elected.
"My sites were picked up by Trump supporters all the time. I think Trump is in the White House because of me. ... They’ll post everything, believe anything."
He explained that he wrote such stories because he wanted to make fun of Trump supporters' beliefs (he said he never targeted other presidential candidates), and he thought people would fact-check them. But then the stories just took off.
RELATED: Report: Fake election news performed better than real news on Facebook
"Trump supporters — they just keep running with it! They never fact-check anything! Now he’s in the White House.
Looking back, instead of hurting the campaign, I think I helped it. And that feels (bad)."
He also talked about fear of losing business as Google and Facebook crack down on fake news. Read the full Q&A at the Washington Post.
The Republic reached out to Horner for comment but did not immediately hear back. We will update the story if he replies.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...rump/94026272/
