Fact Check

Did Filmmaker Michael Moore Announce He's Supporting Trump in 2024 Election?

We took a closer look at a video purporting to show that the Oscar-winning documentarian supports the former U.S. president's reelection.

Published Jan. 17, 2024

Michael Moore attends the closing ceremony screening of "The Specials" during the 72nd annual Cannes Film Festival on May 25, 2019 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images) (Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
Image courtesy of Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images
Claim:
Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore announced his support of former U.S. President Donald Trump for reelection in 2024.

On Jan. 16, 2024, a user on X (formerly Twitter) named @Sadie_NC posted a video clip that displayed the caption, "Michael Moore Supporting Trump."

Michael Moore is an Academy Award-winning filmmaker who is perhaps best known for the best documentary Oscar that he won in 2003 for "Bowling for Columbine," which was inspired by the 1999 Columbine High School shootings in Colorado.

Above the video, the X post (archived) read, "Never did I think Michael Moore would hit the nail on the head. Absolutely stunned by what he has to say about Trump and Trump voters." The post received more than 7,000 reposts and over 17,000 likes.

The video displayed a watermark for TikTok user @justwownewsofficial, who had just posted the clip hours earlier on Jan. 16.

The video was sourced from Moore's 2016 film, "Michael Moore in TrumpLand." In the clip, Moore says a number of things that make it seem like he is siding with Trump supporters and is perhaps endorsing his candidacy.

However, at the point that the brief clip ends on X and TikTok, Moore continues in the full film by telling the audience that voting for Trump will be something they will "regret."

"But I get it. You wanted to send a message," Moore says. "You had righteous anger. And justifiable anger. Well, message sent. Goodnight America. You've just elected the last president of the United States."

The omitted ending was uploaded to Moore's official YouTube channel on Oct. 27, 2016 with the text description, "Here's the REAL ending to Mike's ANTI-Trump rant that was cut out by Trump supporters."

We previously reported about this very same video clip from Moore's film when it was being shared online in the same out-of-context manner in the weeks before the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Since that time, even Trump himself at least twice shared the misleading video clip on social media, including at least once on his own Truth Social platform.

Sources

Dodds, Io. “Donald Trump Touts Satirical Video of Michael Moore Praising Him (Again).” Yahoo News via The Independent, 24 Apr. 2023, https://news.yahoo.com/donald-trump-touts-deceptively-edited-042731812.html.

Evatt, Nicole. “Moore Talks Gun Control after Conn. Shooting.” The Associated Press, 9 Jan. 2013, https://apnews.com/article/entertainment-arts-and-entertainment-shootings-violence-movies-7683bde8725f4f528aae8f8fd1dd0b62.

Evon, Dan. “Michael Moore Endorsed Donald Trump?” Snopes, 26 Oct. 2016, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/michael-moore-endorsed-donald-trump/.

@justwownewsofficial. “Michael Moore Supporting Trump.” TikTok, 16 Jan. 2024, https://www.tiktok.com/@justwownewsofficial/video/7324790198036925727.

“Michael Moore in TrumpLand.” IMDb.com, https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6163356/.

Moore, Michael. “Michael Moore In TrumpLand: The Last President of the United States.” YouTube, 27 Oct. 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sVLTQIUMq18.

@Sadie_NC. “Never Did I Think Michael Moore Would Hit the Nail on the Head. Absolutely Stunned by What He Has to Say about Trump and Trump Voters.” X (Formerly Twitter), 16 Jan. 2024, https://twitter.com/Sadie_NC/status/1747453455008952402.

Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016.