Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
Claim
The crowd chants “Modi-Modi” during Donald Trump’s victory speech after he secured more than 270 electoral college votes needed to defeat his opponent, incumbent vice president Kamala Harris, in the US presidential elections.
The archived version of the post can be seen here.
Fact
Newschecker saw that several users had pointed out that the chants were actually “Bobby, Bobby”, following which we ran a relevant keyword search that led us to this Time magazine report, dated November 6, 2024, on Trump’s victory speech on Wednesday at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
“Hinting at what his future administration could look like, Trump said that former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would help to ‘make America healthy again’. Over audience chants of “Bobby! Bobby!” Trump said, ‘He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him go do it’. Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic who ended his campaign in August and endorsed Trump, has said in recent days that he expects a prominent role overseeing federal health agencies,” read the report.
A further search led us to a full transcript of Trump’s victory speech, published by Australian media outlet, The Nightly, on November 6, confirming that the chants were “Bobby! Bobby!
“Amid chants of ‘Bobby, Bobby’, Mr Trump said vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr would “make America healthy again.” ‘He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him go to it,’ he said, while looking at Kennedy, who has said in the past that he expects a prominent role in overseeing federal health agencies,” read an NDTV report, dated November 6, 2024.
“Trump also lavished praise on vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy Jr, promising that he would help “make America healthy again”. The crowd chanted “Bobby! Bobby!”, read the Guardian’s report, dated November 6, 2024
We found the full victory speech, uploaded by FOX 9 Minneapolis-St. Paul on November 6, 2024, stating Donald Trump spoke to supporters early on Wednesday after Fox News projected him to win the 2024 presidential race.
We can see at the 19:30 mark of the video, where Trump said that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would help to ‘make America healthy again’, following which we can hear the “Bobby-Bobby” chants. The viral video started from “make America healthy again”, misleadingly cropping out Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s name.
Result: False
Source
Time report, November 6, 2024
The Guardian report, November 6, 2024
The Nightly report, November 6, 2024
NDTV report, November 6, 2024
Youtube video, November 6, 2024
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Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Pankaj Menon is a fact-checker based out of Delhi who enjoys ‘digital sleuthing’ and calling out misinformation. He has completed his MA in International Relations from Madras University and has worked with organisations like NDTV, Times Now and Deccan Chronicle online in the past.
