FACT CHECK: Did Time Magazine Call Donald Trump ‘The Worst President Ever?’
A photo shared on Facebook allegedly shows a cover from Time Magazine naming former President Donald Trump the “worst president ever.”
Verdict: False
The cover is digitally edited. It cannot be found on the publication’s official archive of covers.
Fact Check:
A recording of a phone call from Trump to David Ralston, a now deceased former House Speaker, has been given to Fulton County investigators, CNN reported. In the recording, Trump allegedly requests for a “special session” regarding his loss in Georgia, Ralson did not oblige, according to MSNBC.
The Facebook post allegedly shows a cover of from Time Magazine associating several negative words with Trump. The alleged cover shows a photo of Trump with skeletal features emerging from one side alongside “Thief” among other terms.
“Worst. President. Ever,” the alleged headline reads. “How DONALD TRUMP has disgraced the highest office in the nation.” Facebook users in the comments appeared to believe the cover to be genuine. The purported cover was also posted on Twitter, where it garnered over 3,900 retweets.
trump removed the Obama-era regulations that would have prevented all these deadly train derailments. He removed the Obama-era Dodd-Frank regulations that would have prevented the Silicon Valley bank crash. Thanks to him, everything’s going off the rails literally & figuratively. pic.twitter.com/TfHEBAeYKB
— 😱 Scary Larry 😱 🇺🇦✊🏻🇺🇸🗽 (@aintscarylarry) March 12, 2023
This is not a genuine cover, however. It cannot be found in the Time Magazine archive. There are no credible news reports to corroborate the legitimacy of the cover. The cover previously went viral in 2018 and was debunked by Snopes and PolitiFact at the time. (Did Time Magazine Name Joe Biden And Kamala Harris ‘The Most Unpopular Duo’?’)
“This image is not an authentic TIME cover,” a Time spokesperson confirmed in an email to Check Your Fact.
This is not the first time a fabricated Time Magazine cover has gone viral. Check Your Fact previously debunked an alleged cover depicting British Home Secretary Suella Braverman with Nazi iconography.
