Right-wing political operative and Religious Right pseudo-historian David Barton appeared on the “Educate For Life with Kevin Conover” radio program last month, where he complained that accusations that he routinely misrepresents American history in order to promote his political agenda are “fake news.”
Barton said that too many people simply believe what they read or hear about him from critics, which he insisted is “illogical” since he owns a large collection of historical documents.
“Because of what I do, I’m a target for the left, big time,” Barton said. “They say, ‘Oh, you make up your history.’ Did anybody point out that I own 100,000 original documents and I’m simply holding the original? Do you think I forged George Washington’s letter?”
“I get all these hit articles all the time coming out on me,” he continued. “A real journalist will always call the subject and say, ‘Hey, what is your take on this?’ Well, they don’t do that any more today, they [just say], ‘I found all these articles about you online and this is news.’ No, that’s fake news, that’s exactly what fake news is.”
The irony, of course, is that Barton’s complaints are false, as journalists have contacted him and examined some of the claims that he makes and concluded that “not one of them checked out.”
On top of that, Barton’s possession of “original documents” is largely irrelevant, as one does not need to own an original draft of the Constitution or the Declaration of Independence or the Bible or various court decisions to see that the assertions that he makes about them are utterly and demonstrably false.
