TIME’s Michael Scherer: ‘Many of the Stories’ On People’s Phones At Trump Rallies ‘Made Up By Hoax Websites’

On Friday’s broadcast of PBS’ “Washington Week,” TIME Washington Bureau Chief Michael Scherer blamed people getting news from “narrow” groups of news outlets for “the reason we have so many conspiracy theories in the campaign” and that “many of the stories that are coming across people’s phones, if you talk to them at Trump rallies, are just not true. They’re fanciful stories made up by hoax websites.”

Scherer said, “Well, the reason we have so many conspiracy theories in the campaign is that people are getting their information from narrow sets of outlets. You know, their social feeds, many of the stories that are coming across people’s phones, if you talk to them at Trump rallies, are just not true. They’re fanciful stories made up by hoax websites.”

He added, “And so the question is, how much do conservative outlets, who are speaking to the conservative base decide to focus on this? I mean, one of the things he said in this audio is that he was trying to sleep with a married woman, and that he was putting Tic-Tacs in his mouth so he could get a kiss from a woman while he was recently married. He had married Melania at this point.”

Scherer concluded, “But you know, in the traditional Republican Party this would be big news, and in the traditional conservative media this would be big news and this would be echoed through channels that would get this message out. And we just don’t know how it’ll be handled.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett

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