Joke's on them! White House promotes column about 'Trump's budget makes perfect sense'... not realizing it's vicious satire
- White House newsletter included link to Washington Post column on Friday
- 'Trump’s budget makes perfect sense and will fix America, and I will tell you why'
- But a read beyond that headline reveals the piece is vicious satire
- 'All schoolchildren will be taught by an F-35 wearing a Make America Great Again hat,' Post opnion writer Alexandra Petri pens in zany extended riff
- Embarrassed White House removes link to satirical column
- 'This is 2017 in a nutshell: You start with what you think is obviously a joke, and then a few days later it is being sent out from the White House,' writes Petri
The White House has learned a valuable lesson: read past the headline before sharing a link.
The official White House newsletter on Friday included a link encouraging readers to check out an article titled 'Trump’s budget makes perfect sense and will fix America, and I will tell you why,' apparently not realizing it was a piece of satire.
'This budget will make America a lean, mean fighting machine with bulging, rippling muscles and not an ounce of fat,' Washington Post opinion writer Alexandra Petri penned in her Thursday column.
'All schoolchildren will be taught by an F-35 wearing a Make America Great Again hat,' she continued.
The White House included the satirical article mocking Trump's budget under the 'News Reports' section of a daily newsletter, apparently after reading only the headline
Trump, shown Friday speaking to reporters on Air Force One, released a budget plan on Thursday slashing domestic spending by $54 billion to boost defense outlays
Trump released a budget plan on Thursday that slashes domestic spending by $54 billion to fund a boost in defense outlays.
Petri, clearly no fan of President Donald Trump's budget proposal, went on to jokingly justify budget cuts to the State Department ('Only HARD POWER now'), Environmental Protection Agency ('Clean rivers and breathable air are making us SOFT') and the Department of Agriculture ('We will be HUNTERS again'), among others.
'I was as surprised as anyone to discover that I was Real News,' Petri wrote in a follow-up piece after seeing her humor column described as a 'News Report' by the White House.
'Here I thought that I was toiling away in the Dank Cesspool of the Mainstream Media, but all along I was a Trusted News Source, just like Breitbart.com!' she continued, referring to the right-wing news and opinion site known to be a Trump favorite.
The Washington Post came out with one of the first positive reviews of the budget that looks like it could have been written by the President himself
'I honestly thought that, no matter the headline, there was no way that anyone could think this piece was anything other than [satire],' wrote Petri. 'But I have always overestimated people’s desire to read things I write.'
By Sunday, the link to Petri's column had been removed from White House website.
'This is 2017 in a nutshell: You start with what you think is obviously a joke, and then a few days later it is being sent out from the White House,' Petri concluded.
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