Back to Africa Check

No, US president Trump didn’t say media hates him for not joining Illuminati

“They hate me because I failed to join the Illuminati – Trump,” reads the headline of a 25 April 2020 post on the Nigerian blog Rozamy

The post is presented as a statement by US president Donald Trump. It quotes him as saying the US media has turned against him “because I recognised Jerusalem as the capital of israel and failed to Join in their Illuminati cult”.

It adds that he had planned to use his second term in office to liberate Africans “from the bondage they are from the Europeans”, but this had been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. 

The blog post has been viewed over 1.9 million times on Facebook, and its text shared in individual messages

Trump is known for misspelling words and using unconventional grammar on Twitter. But even for him the post appears to be badly written, casting doubt on its authenticity. 

Did Trump really say the media hated him because he didn’t join the Illuminati? We checked.   



Illumi-what?


According to Vox, the “Illuminati” is a popular conspiracy theory, referring to “shadowy cabals that supposedly control the world”. 

The BBC says the Illuminati are the “supposed overlords controlling the world’s affairs, operating secretly as they seek to establish a New World Order”. 

In the past there were groups who called themselves the Illuminati but, despite the enduring popularity of myths about the organisation, there is little evidence any still exist. 

Statement can’t be found


The blog post does not say where or when Trump made the statement, or explain how Rozamy obtained it. 

A Google search shows that no credible news outlets have reported what would have been a controversial statement by Trump. 

An advanced search of Trump’s Twitter account @realDonaldTrump reveals he has not mentioned the word “Illuminati” once since he joined Twitter in 2009.

The US presidency’s White House website documents all statements and remarks made by US presidents on its website. It records only one statement by Trump on 25 April 2020, the day the blog post was published. 

This was a joint statement with Russian president Vladimir Putin commemorating the 75th anniversary of the Meeting on the Elbe, when US and Russian armies joined forces against the German army during the second world war. 

Putin and Trump’s statement makes no mention of Africa, the coronavirus pandemic, Jerusalem or the Illuminati. 

Nothing from the Rozamy post appears anywhere in the White House’s online archives

There is no evidence Trump said the media hated him because he didn’t join the Illuminati, or any of the other statements attributed to him by Rozamy. The blog post is made up. – Naledi Mashishi

Republish our content for free

Please complete this form to receive the HTML sharing code.

For publishers: what to do if your post is rated false

A fact-checker has rated your Facebook or Instagram post as “false”, “altered”, “partly false” or “missing context”. This could have serious consequences. What do you do?

Click on our guide for the steps you should follow.

Publishers guide

Africa Check teams up with Facebook

Africa Check is a partner in Meta's third-party fact-checking programme to help stop the spread of false information on social media.

The content we rate as “false” will be downgraded on Facebook and Instagram. This means fewer people will see it.

You can also help identify false information on Facebook. This guide explains how.

Add new comment

Restricted HTML

  • Allowed HTML tags: <a href hreflang> <em> <strong> <cite> <blockquote cite> <code> <ul type> <ol start type> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <h2 id> <h3 id> <h4 id> <h5 id> <h6 id>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
limit: 600 characters

Want to keep reading our fact-checks?

We will never charge you for verified, reliable information. Help us keep it that way by supporting our work.

Become a newsletter subscriber

Support independent fact-checking in Africa.