Today in “Headline Watch,” I have generally good news. With the notable exception of the Wall Street Journal, most outlets said right in their headlines that Donald Trump’s allegation of illegal voting this afternoon was false. That’s pretty good.
Now, for my money, the proper style is something like “Trump Lies Yet Again, Claims Millions of Illegal Votes.” The deck should be “This is Trump’s 187th absurd lie of 2016.” But, you know, baby steps. I understand that mainstream copy desks aren’t quite ready to adopt my Updated Style Guide for the Trump Era. But they will be soon.