White House social media post published before Taiwan recall vote began

Published on August 7, 2025 at 06:38
3 min read
By Anne CHAN, AFP Hong Kong

After Taiwanese voters rejected a bid to remove two dozen opposition lawmakers from office on July 26, social media posts shared an X post by the White House -- which quoted former president Theodore Roosevelt -- and falsely claimed it was a response to the recall vote. The White House in fact posted on X hours ahead of the vote, while the United States has not released any official statements in relation to the poll.

Prominent Taiwanese pastor Huang Chun-sheng shared a translation of a White House X post, written in traditional Chinese, on Facebook on July 27 (archived link). His post has racked up 1,300 shares.

"After Taiwan's recall campaign, the White House suddenly posted on X, sharing a quote from the late US president Theodore Roosevelt," reads the post.

The Roosevelt quote reads in part: "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming."

Screenshot of the false Facebook post, taken on August 6, 2025

The Facebook post includes a link to the X post by the White House, which cites a quote from a speech delivered by Roosevelt in Paris in 1910 (archived link).

Similar translations of the X post surfaced elsewhere on Facebook and Threads, linking it to Taiwan's recall vote on July 26, a campaign led by civic groups and backed by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to unseat 24 lawmakers belonging to the main opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) (archived link).

The recall campaign accused the KMT lawmakers of being in cahoots with China, which claims the island is part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control.

However, none of the recalls succeeded.

Social media users left comments indicating they believed the White House X post was a response to the campaign's failure.

"This post is the White House's gesture of consolation to Taiwanese civic groups," wrote one.

Another said: "The White House has taken notice. Thank you for understanding Taiwan's situation."

However, the post in question was published before voting in Taiwan began.

According to the Central Election Commission, voting was scheduled to take place from 8:00 am (0000 GMT) to 4:00 pm (0800 GMT) local time on July 26 (archived link).

The commission released the official vote count on Facebook at 11:37 pm (1537 GMT) the same day, which showed none of the recalls had succeeded (archived link).

Meanwhile, the White House's post on X was published at 6:53 am (2253 GMT) on July 26, more than an hour before voting began.

Screenshot of the White House's post on X, taken August 5, 2025

The White House has not released any statements in response to Taiwan's recall campaign as of August 7.

Recall votes for another seven KMT lawmakers will be held on August 23, 2025 (archived link). However, the ruling DPP needs at least 12 successful recalls to secure temporary control of parliament.

Taiwan Factcheck Center also debunked the claim.

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