Just days after the Supreme Court struck down Trump’s tariffs in a 6-3 decision, a surprising moment on live TV sparked a wave of speculation online when C-Span received a call from someone and viewers now believe that it may have been President Donald Trump using a fake name.
The debate started after someone called to C-Span on Friday and introduced himself as “John Barron.” The caller’s voice sounded very similar to Trump’s and that quickly divided people online. Some are convinced it was just an impersonator. Others believe it could really have been the president calling in under a different name to generate positive attention.
On February 20, C-Span host Greta Brawner took a call from someone identifying himself as John Barron. The caller’s voice closely resembled that of the 47th US president and he criticized the Supreme Court of the United States for its 6-3 ruling that struck down Trump’s tariffs on the call.
“Well, this is John Barron. Look, this is the worst decision you ever have in your life, practically,” the caller said. “This is a terrible decision. And you have Hakeem Jeffries, who…he’s a dope. And you have Chuck Schumer, who can’t cook a cheeseburger. Of course, these people are happy. But true Americans will not be happy”, the caller said.
C-Span denies that Trump used pseudonym to call in
C-SPAN has denied claims that President Donald Trump secretly called into the network using the name “John Barron” following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision striking down his tariffs.
“The call was not the president,” the network wrote on social media. “The call came from a central Virginia phone number and came while the president was in a widely covered, in-person White-House meeting with the governors. Tune into C-SPAN for the actual president at the State of the Union Address on Tuesday night.”
According to Trump’s public schedule, he was in a “private meeting” beginning at 10:30AM, The “John Barron” call came in at 10:51AM and two governors who met with Trump began a news conference at 10:53AM, they said adding more context to the timeline of events.
Why some people think it could be Trump
People who think the caller could be Trump say this would not be the first time something like this happened. According to media reports, in the 1980s and 1990s, he was accused of calling reporters and pretending to be someone else. Back then, he often handled his own publicity and sometimes used different names while speaking to the media.
The name “John Barron” has also been linked to Trump in the past. Over the years, there have been reports claiming he used fake names or aliases, when talking to journalists and John Barron is one of them. But there were more.
The situation is reminding many people of an earlier media investigation. CNN had once reported that a caller named John Miller was actually Donald Trump, and that he did not make much effort to disguise his voice. In both situations, the callers spoke positively about Trump and criticized his rivals.
That history is now being brought up again as people compare the C-Span clip to older recordings.
