Donald Trump claimed record TV ratings and even Fox News trolled him

Donald Trump is very excited about the TV ratings for his State of the Union address this week. You probably won’t be surprised to find out … they were a new all-time record! Woohoo!

Thank you for all of the nice compliments and reviews on the State of the Union speech. 45.6 million people watched, the highest number in history. @FoxNews beat every other Network, for the first time ever, with 11.7 million people tuning in. Delivered from the heart!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 1, 2018

Except, well, we hesitate to suggest the so-called president might be pedalling a falsehood, but other people weren’t so sure.

There were two things that surprised people about the following tweet. One, that the Fox News research department would dare contradict Trump.

Two, that Fox News had a research department.

#SOTU TV Viewers:
2018: 45.6M
2017: 47.7M*
2016: 31.3M
2015: 31.7M
2014: 33.3M
2013: 33.5M
2012: 37.8M
2011: 42.8M
2010: 48.0M
2009: 52.4M*
2008: 37.5M
2007: 45.5M
2006: 41.7M
2005: 38.4M
2004: 43.4M
2003: 62.1M
1993: 66.9M* (largest TV audience)

*Not an official SOTU pic.twitter.com/OZlUHmGQp4

— Fox News Research (@FoxNewsResearch) February 1, 2018

They weren’t the only ones to point this out.

Obama 2010 SOTU – 48 million
Bush 2003 – 62.1 million
Bush 2002 – 51.8 million
Clinton 1998 – 53.1 million
Clinton 1994 – 45.8 million

Nielsen sent this info out yesterday lol https://t.co/LOG8najqXl

— Steven Perlberg (@perlberg) February 1, 2018

8 million less viewers than Obama!

— IR.net (@IRdotnet) February 1, 2018

It isn't even lying. Respectable lying demands maneuver, nuance. You shave, obscure. This is just a loud fart in an elevator full of facts. https://t.co/CBYxQ5UGSe

— David Simon (@AoDespair) February 1, 2018

This pales in comparison to the number who will watch your Impeachment!

— Ed Krassenstein (@EdKrassen) February 1, 2018

And here we go… pic.twitter.com/boFOwSmig0

— Dave Itzkoff (@ditzkoff) February 1, 2018

People are misreading this as a claim that the ratings are the highest. Wrong! He's saying that, in history, mathematicians have never identified a number higher than 45.6 million. https://t.co/m7vYr7ncdX

— Philip Bump (@pbump) February 1, 2018