Fact Check

President Trump Announced a $612 Credit for 'Deserving Americans'?

News about free money is always a hit, as exemplified by the popularity of a satirical item claiming President Trump has allocated a $612 credit for all "deserving" Americans.

Published Feb. 15, 2017

 (STILLFX / Shutterstock.com)
Image Via STILLFX / Shutterstock.com
Claim:
President Trump announced a "stimulus bonus of $612" for every "deserving" American adult and child.

On 14 February 2017, the web site Last Line of Defense (The Resistance) published an article reporting that President Trump had announced a "stimulus bonus" of $612 to be disbursed to "deserving" American adults and children:

If you’re not a lazy bum on welfare or an illegal here to steal food stamps and free medicine, President Trump has some good news for you. You, your wife and your children will all be receiving a stimulus bonus of $612 each to spend however you see fit inside the United States.

The program, called “Tax Relief For Deserving Americans,” will give nothing to those who choose not to work, people in prison or illegal aliens. People on welfare in good standing with work programs or job training will receive an extra $25 in bonus food stamps instead. The White House Communication and Propaganda Office released a statement about the program and how it will impact the economy:

While deciding how to distract the American people from the nonsense being “reported” by the fake news media about world events and interior politics, President Trump was reminded of how much everyone enjoyed the money George W Bush handed out from the surplus left over from the Clinton administration. Mr. trump has decided people would rather focus on spending some money than the nonsense on the “news,” and has therefore authorized the release of $612 each for every legal American from a working family.

Of course, there is no "White House Communication and Propaganda Office," nor did President Trump decree "deserving" Americans were set to receive a bonus of any sort. Last Line of Defense's "About" page includes a disclaimer noting that the site's material is satirical in nature:

DISCLAIMER: The Resistance may include information from sources that may or may not be reliable and facts that don’t necessarily exist. All articles should be considered satirical and any and all quotes attributed to actual people complete and total baloney. Pictures that represent actual people should be considered altered and not in any way real.

A nearly verbatim copy of this fake news article was recirculated by web sites such as AmericanRevolution24.com and ConsDaily.com in April 2017 with one notable change: President Trump was allegedly giving $888, not $612, to the American people. This, of course, was also fake news.

Kim LaCapria is a former writer for Snopes.