Fake Truth Social post circulates as Trump bemoans Canadian wildfire smoke
- Published on July 22, 2026 at 22:41
- 3 min read
- By AFP USA
Growing wildfires in Canada sent smoke billowing into the United States in mid-July, with the contaminated air drawing social media scorn and tariff threats from Donald Trump. But a supposed Truth Social post from the US president, saying he could extinguish the Canadian blazes by redirecting water via a "giant faucet" in the state of California, is fake.
"The orange in chief is back at it with the giant faucet," says a July 19, 2027 post on Threads, which includes what appears to be a screenshot of a Truth Social post Trump shared the day prior.
The purported post begins: "I'm going to California to turn the GIANT FAUCET exactly 37 DEGREES TO THE RIGHT and aim the beautiful water directly at Canada, under the strong leadership of Prime Minister Mark Carney, where it will extinguish the wildfires almost immediately."
The same apparent screenshot spread across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bluesky and X as wildfires intensified across Canada, forcing several northwestern Ontario communities to evacuate while sending huge swaths of smoke sweeping over North America.
Many of the fires are burning in remote areas, inaccessible by road, making access for firefighters difficult.
Trump addressed the fires on Truth Social on July 17, accusing Canada of "willful negligence" in its forest management as unhealthy air blanketed parts of both countries (archived here).
But the supposed post referencing the faucet is not authentic.
No such post is live on Trump's official account or found in July 18 captures of his profile by the Internet Archive. Similarly, the message does not appear in two additional databases that archive the president's social media activity.
The purported screenshot is also visually different from the president's authentic posts -- lacking the symbol for Truth+, a premium service on the platform.
Additionally, commenters questioning the post's authenticity pointed out that the president rarely refers to Gavin Newsom by his name when he posts about the California governor, often using the derogatory nickname "Newscum" instead.
In 2024, Trump did raise the idea of a faucet being able to direct water from the Pacific Northwest to Southern California while fundraising in the coastal city of Rancho Palos Verdes.
"They have essentially a very large faucet," Trump said (archived here). "And you turn the faucet. And it takes one day to turn it -- it's massive, it's as big as the wall of that building right there behind you. And you turn that and all of that water goes aimlessly into the Pacific. And if they turned it back, all of that water would come right down here and right into Los Angeles."
Experts at the time dismissed Trump's assertions. They said there is no infrastructure to divert Canadian water directly to Los Angeles.
Trump said on July 19, 2026 that he spoke with Carney at of the World Cup final, continuing to maintain that Canada should pay the United States "damages or something" over the wildfire smoke.
Scientists have said that climate change is increasing conditions favorable to wildfires in some Canadian regions that historically saw less burning, and that fire season is starting earlier and lasting longer (archived here and here).
Snopes and Lead Stories also fact-checked the fake post.
Read more of AFP's reporting about misinformation targeting the 2026 Canadian wildfires here.
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