[746]
Some of Trump's falsehoods were inconsequential, such as his claim of the "biggest inaugural crowd ever".[747][748] Others had more far-reaching effects, such as Trump's promotion of unproven antimalarial drugs as a treatment for COVID-19 in a press conference and on Twitter in March 2020.[749][750] The claims had consequences worldwide, such as a shortage of these drugs in the United States and panic-buying in Africa and South Asia.[751][752] Other misinformation, such as misattributing a rise in crime in England and Wales to the "spread of radical Islamic terror", served Trump's domestic political purposes.[753] As a matter of principle, Trump does not apologize for his falsehoods.[754]
Despite the frequency of Trump's falsehoods, the media rarely referred to them as lies.[755][756] The first time The Washington Post did so was in August 2018, when it declared that some of Trump's misstatements, in particular those concerning hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal, were lies.[757][756]
In 2020, Trump was a significant source of disinformation on mail-in voting and misinformation on the COVID-19 pandemic.