Politico reports:
Drudge’s site led with a story by The Hill reporting the president’s morning tweet, running the headline “TRUMP DENIES MINI-STROKE SENT HIM TO HOSPITAL.” Trump later lashed out at Drudge, claiming that Drudge himself reported the president had had a stroke.
Trump himself is no stranger to peddling controversial theories, having advanced the racist birther theory that claimed that Obama was not born in the United States. He has also embraced Republicans who have openly supported the QAnon phenomenon — a baseless conspiracy theory that says the government is harboring a Satanic cabal of pedophiles.
Trump has long used mental and physical fitness as attack points against his Democratic challenger, Joe Biden. In his initial denial of having had a stroke, Trump on Tuesday morning turned the narrative against Biden.
Drudge didn’t support me in 2016, and I hear he doesn’t support me now. Maybe that’s why he is doing poorly. His Fake News report on Mini-Strokes is incorrect. Possibly thinking about himself, or the other party’s “candidate”. https://t.co/9FraoFqOKq
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) September 1, 2020
Drudge is fake news now. Sad. Used to be better!
— Jenna Ellis (@JennaEllisEsq) September 1, 2020
OK maybe you didn’t have mini-strokes. Maybe you had a full-blown stroke. If it’s not true, how about proving it wrong? It would be very easy to do. Waive your HIPPA rights.
— Mrs. Krassenstein (@HKrassenstein) September 1, 2020
The Drudge Report was certainly all in for Trump in 2016. Trump thinks he can just say an outrageous lie and people would just automatically believe him.
Release your medical records, fool.
— Eugene Gu, MD (@eugenegu) September 1, 2020
hey snowflake, every hear of the phrase “protesting too much”
— Jeff Tiedrich (@itsJeffTiedrich) September 1, 2020
Drudge not only supported Trump in 2016, he assigned a litany of injuries and potential diseases to Hillary Clinton. The president is receiving that treatment now. https://t.co/4PlY2rCC6W
— Ben Collins (@oneunderscore__) September 1, 2020
Fact check: @DRUDGE strongly supported Trump in 2016, not only in the general but also in the Republican primaries.
And the last time Trump knocked Drudge’s web traffic, Drudge went on record & told me his site was actually experiencing record traffic. https://t.co/MVVXX4rOUq https://t.co/oFrInUtRav
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) September 1, 2020