"Fake News" hangs in Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster
President Donald Trump's phony Time Magazine cover -- hailing his reality show as a smash hit -- hangs in several of of his golf resorts around the world, including Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster.
When the Washington Post reported Tuesday that the framed fake cover was hung on the walls of Trump's courses and resorts around the world, NJ Advance Media immediately searched photos taken recently at Trump National in Bedminster and ... bingo!
The main headline reads: "Donald Trump: The 'Apprentice' is a television smash!" Another adoring headline (in all caps) runs across the Time nameplate: "TRUMP IS HITTING ON ALL FRONTS . . . EVEN TV!"
During a recent press event at Trump National to promote the upcoming U.S. Women's Open, members of the media were encouraged to walk around the clubhouse and given golf carts to tour the grounds.
In one of the corridors, along with a large poster of his "Celebrity Apprentice" reality television show and a photo of the entire Trump family at Oprah Winfrey's final "Oprah Show," hangs the phony Time cover, dated March 1, 2009.
The cover is captured among the dozens of photos taken by NJ Advance Media.
In the Washington Post report, Kerri Chyka, a spokeswoman for Time Inc., confirms in an email that "this is not a real TIME cover."
At first glance, it appears to be leigitimate, but Pulitzer-prize-winning reporter David A. Fahrenthold points out several incongruities, including the width of the red boarder, the placement and fonts of smaller headlines -- and that there was no March 1, 2009 edition.
So, where did the fake cover come from? The administration, when questioned by the Post, wouldn't say. But Fahrenthold offers a theory on how Trump ended up with a Time cover -- like a Little Leaguer ends up with his own baseball card.
"Another possible clue to the fake cover's origins: The fake bar code on the bottom right. An identical bar code shows up online in a graphic-design tutorial posted in 2010, in which a Peruvian designer laid out how to make a fake Time cover -- complete with this bar code, for extra realism. The graphic designer did not immediately respond to questions from The Post."
According to the Post, Time has asked Trump to remove the phony cover from wherever it is hanging, so it might not be on the wall when Trump Bedminster hosts the Women's Open next month.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders, when asked about the covers, said in an email to the Post, "We couldn't comment on the decor at Trump Golf clubs one way or another."
John Munson may be reached at jmunson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @john_munson. Find NJ.com on Facebook.