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Social media post mischaracterizes Donald Trump’s comments in Tucker Carlson interview
If Your Time is short
- Former President Donald Trump appeared to be disparaging a former Fox News host in a recent interview when he said the host "came from a different planet." But Trump wasn’t referring to Joe Biden or saying the current president is an alien.
Former President Donald Trump didn’t recently out President Joe Biden as an extraterrestrial, despite an Instagram post that suggests as much.
"Trump says Biden is an alien?????" reads the text above a clip of Trump’s Aug. 23 interview on X with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
"Biden wouldn’t do a show, and it was very obvious, he kept asking him and asking, but he wouldn't do the show, so I figured he’s got to like me, but he came from a different planet," Trump says in the clip.
The video then cuts to a portrait of Biden as sinister music plays. An illustration of a reptilian face appears over Biden’s head.
This post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Featured Fact-check
We reviewed the part of the interview where this clip originated, and it appears that Trump is referring disparagingly to another former Fox News host, Chris Wallace — not Biden.
After Carlson and Trump both insult Wallace, calling him talentless, a "b—y little man" and a "little fussy man," Trump recounts the first 2020 presidential debate between Trump and Biden, which Wallace moderated.
"He was guarding this guy who wouldn’t do a show, by the way," Trump said in the Carlson interview. "I don’t mind Chris Wallace because Biden wouldn’t do a show. And it was very obvious, he kept asking him and asking, but he wouldn’t do the show, so I figured he’s got to like me. But he came from a different planet."
We rate claims that Trump called Biden an alien False.
Our Sources
Instagram post, Aug. 23, 2023
Rev, Tucker on X Debate Night Interview with Donald Trump Transcript, Aug. 24, 2023
The New York Times, Chris Wallace Calls Debate ‘a Terrible Missed Opportunity,’ Sept. 30, 2020
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Social media post mischaracterizes Donald Trump’s comments in Tucker Carlson interview
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