Kathrine Frich
It does not take long for a journalist fact-checking that post to spot several glaring contradictions.
Political victory laps on social media rarely slow down for inconvenient details.
In Washington, leaders love declaring total triumph the second a tough vote goes their way.
Yet a closer look at the facts often tells a very different story.
A blocked vote
According to Russian news agency TASS, US President Donald Trump lashed out at the Democratic Party after the House of Representatives stopped a move to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
Posting on Truth Social, the president celebrated the vote and attacked Kentucky Republican Representative Thomas Massie, who introduced the impeachment articles earlier.
“The Democrats’ attempt to impeach Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has miserably failed! Every single Republican, except Thomas Massie, a major loser, voted in favor of Pete,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
During Tuesday’s procedural vote, House lawmakers shipped the measure off to a committee controlled by Trump allies, where GOP members will block it until the current congressional session ends. Hegseth brushed off the effort as a farce, TASS reported.
Claims meet reality
To defend his Pentagon chief, the president pointed to a sweeping list of accomplishments. “Again, Victories in Venezuela and Iran, the Best Recruitment Numbers in the History of the Military (Long waiting lists to get in!), and Spirit like rarely seen before, led to the exoneration of a Great American Patriot,” Trump wrote, adding, “The Democrats continue to weaponize and abuse the United States of America. They must be stopped!”
It does not take long for a journalist fact-checking that post to spot several glaring contradictions. While Trump boasts of victories in Venezuela and Iran, the conflict with Iran is still underway, and TASS noted that many Democratic and some Republican lawmakers are deeply unhappy with Hegseth’s actions in that exact fight.
Furthermore, his claim about the best military recruitment numbers in history and long waiting lists to enlist does not hold up to scrutiny, as no such waiting list exists. Even the new national spirit Trump praised points in the opposite direction of his post.
In the November 3 midterm elections, which decided the whole House, one-third of the Senate, and 36 governorships, voters handed control of both chambers to the Democrats, according to TASS. That political wave will put Democrats in charge when the 120th Congress opens on January 3, 2027.
