Impersonator, not Trump, posted about military, meeting 'Civil War veteran' | Fact check
The claim: Trump posted about military relationship, interaction with ‘Civil War soldier’
An Aug. 27 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) shows an image of what appears to be a post on X, formerly Twitter, from former President Donald Trump about his relationship with the military and his visit to Arlington National Cemetery.
“Once a Civil War soldier came to me, with tears in his eyes and said, ‘Sir thank you for building the United States military from scratch,’” the purported post reads in part.
The image was shared more than 100 times in three days between this post and other similar ones.
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Our rating: False
Trump didn’t post this. It came from an impersonator whose account was suspended for violating the platform’s rules. There is no record of the post from Trump’s verified account.
Post came from Trump impersonator’s account
The controversy surrounding Trump's Aug. 26 visit to Arlington stems from an altercation between members of his entourage and a cemetery official over photography restrictions in one area. Their confrontation – and the subsequent posting by Trump’s campaign of video from the area where recently interred soldiers are buried – drew criticism from veterans and a public rebuke from the U.S. Army.
But the X post in the image referencing claims about Trump’s relationship with the military did not come from the former commander in chief. It was posted by an impersonator whose account has since been suspended.
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While the image shared on Facebook bears a strong resemblance to one of Trump’s posts and uses the same name and profile photo as his official account, its username is “@realDonaldTrimp.” A notice on the account's profile states it was suspended for violating X’s rules, which prohibit posters from using misleading and deceptive identities.
Trump’s verified account has no record of the post in question, and there is no evidence it was posted and later deleted. It certainly would have been noticed and commented upon by some of his 90 million followers and would have generated coverage from legitimate media outlets.
Trump’s account shared only two original posts on X that day, one promoting his book and another attacking Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent in the presidential race.
The concept of Trump speaking to a Civil War soldier, is, of course, ridiculous. The Civil War ended in 1865, and the last surviving soldier, Albert Woolson, died in 1956 – when Trump was 10 years old.
This is far from the first post to misattribute a social media post to a political figure. USA TODAY has debunked false claims of images purporting to show a Trump post claiming his rally shooting “took my entire ear off” and a post from Democratic vice presidential nominee Tim Walz attacking conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
USA TODAY reached out to several social media users who shared the image but did not immediately receive responses.
Snopes also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources:
@realDonaldTrimp, accessed Aug. 30, X account
Donald Trump, accessed Aug. 30, X account
National Archives, Nov. 30, 2016, Ending the Bloodshed
Stone Sentinels, accessed Aug. 30, Albert Woolson, the Last Survivor
University of Virginia Miller Center, accessed Aug. 30, Donald Trump: Life before the presidency
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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump impersonator posted about meeting Civil War vet | Fact check
