WHAT WAS CLAIMED
Donald Trump called New Zealand a third world country in a Truth Social post.
OUR VERDICT
False. The post is fake.
AAP FACTCHECK - US President Donald Trump did not call New Zealand a third world country on his social media platform, despite a viral post appearing to show he did.
The post is fake, showing inconsistencies with actual Truth Social posts. New Zealand's Foreign Minister Winston Peters has also confirmed it's a fake.
The post's inauthenticity hasn't stopped it going viral. Multiple Facebook posts have shared and responded to it.
One post, seemingly believing the Trump post to be real, says: "Not sure if NZ is a 3rd world country, but our Govt and bureaucrats certainly behave that way, but what is he alluding to here with money being funneled to NZ?"
Mr Peters published an X post on February 16 confirming the Truth Social post was a fake.
"We have seen debate online about a purported social media post by US President Donald Trump which mentions New Zealand," it reads.
"The post in question is fake. People should check their facts before spreading disinformation online.
"The United States is one of New Zealand's closest, most important partners, and we look forward to building it further under the Trump Administration."
The fake post has the appearance of a genuine Truth Social post, apart from one small detail — the "K" indicating the number of likes is upper case, unlike the lower case k that is used in genuine Truth Social posts.
The fake post purports the US president to have said: "Lyin' Chuck Schumer is at it again - with the help of Alex Soros (Little Georgie) scheming to undo all the GREAT WORK my administration is doing to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! We found thousands of cases of fraud, waste, and bad for them, receipts. Little Georgie funneled millions and billions of taxpayer dollars to Third World Countries like New Zealand and Congo …"
"Lyin' Chuck Schumer" is a reference to the Democratic leader in the US Senate, Chuck Schumer.
Alex Soros is the son of financier George Soros, the Hungarian-born billionaire financier who is a frequent target of conspiracy theorists and anti-Semitic tropes.
The fake post is dated February 13. A search of Trump's Truth Social account shows no post on his timeline like the one shared in Facebook posts.
AAP FactCheck was also unable to find a matching post from Trump's account on internet archive tools.
There have been no news reports confirming Trump's post as real. But there have been reports in the New Zealand media, such as by NZ Herald, confirming the post is fake.
AAP FactCheck is an accredited member of the International Fact-Checking Network. To keep up with our latest fact checks, follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
