Daily Caller Retracts Article On White House Easter Egg Rules That Whipped Up MAGA

David Moye
·5 min read
149

A popular conservative website has retracted an article that falsely blamed President Joe Biden for instituting a policy against religious-themed Easter eggs at the annual White House Easter Egg Roll.

On Tuesday, the Daily Caller retracted an article that began, “The Biden administration banned children from submitting Easter eggs with religious themes for its 2024 ‘Celebrating National Guard Families’ art contest.”

Although the ban against religious imagery goes back to the Carter administration and was in effect during the Trump administration, the Daily Caller ignored that pesky little detail in order to give readers a MAGA opportunity to gripe and moan about a grievance that didn’t exist.

As a result, many conservatives attempted to make hay off the story, even though it was misleading, especially since many also falsely accused Biden of purposely declaring March 31 to be Trans Day of Visibility as a way to insult Christians.

And, yes, they ignored the minor detail that Trans Day of Visibility has been celebrated on the last day of March for the last decade.

For instance, Karoline Leavitt, the Trump presidential campaign’s national press secretary, released a statement saying that the policy regarding religious eggs and the fact that Easter fell on Trans Day of Visibility were “just two more examples of the Biden Administration’s years-long assault on the Christian faith.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also tried to milk the fake controversy by releasing a post on social media in which he claimed that “banning sacred truth and tradition — while at the same time proclaiming Easter Sunday as ‘Transgender Day’ — is outrageous and abhorrent.”

But though the Daily Caller’s story was catnip for low-information voters and the politicians who love them (or love taking advantage of them), the truth eventually won out and forced this retraction on Tuesday:

“Following the publication of this article, the Daily Caller became aware of additional context that undercut the central assertion of this article and its newsworthiness.

“The ban of religious symbolism on eggs as part of the White House Easter egg art contest has been longstanding, dating back decades, and the Biden administration did not make any modifications to this rule.

“While the Caller did not explicitly state at any point that the rule was new, this additional context rendered the main thrust of the article misleading to readers, who could reasonably have come to the conclusion that the rule was new.”

The Caller admitted that when it added the accurate context to its story, its news value was “significantly diminished, leading the senior leadership at the Caller to the decision to retract.”

The publication said it “sincerely” regretted the error and was “taking the necessary steps to ensure similar mistakes can be avoided in the future.”

However, the publication has yet to tweet the retraction to its 1.1 million followers on X, formerly Twitter.

HuffPost reached out to Johnson’s office to see if the retraction will affect the House speaker’s post.

White House deputy press secretary Andrew Bates said on social media that he was “giving credit where it’s due” and said the Caller “did the right thing by retracting this story on the Easter Egg Roll.”

He added: “As they say, the guidelines are ’longstanding, dating back decades, and the Biden administration did not make any modifications to this rule.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre also noted the retraction and hoped other news organizations learn from the Caller’s experience.

Others weren’t as impressed by the Caller’s actions, since it’s unlikely that other people who pushed the false Easter Egg narrative will admit they are wrong.

Related...