The White House released President Trump’s budget request a couple of days ago, and while Democrats are lining up to accuse him of wanting to starve children, Slate sounded the alarm that Trump intended to spend more on defense than everything else combined.

Trump’s budget achieves a milestone: Defense spending now exceeds all other programs combined. https://t.co/8SFcsi73aD — Slate (@Slate) March 13, 2019

This is impossible — Bo Levitin (@BoLevitin) March 13, 2019

Wow, more than all other programs combined? The thing is, now that Twitter allows tweets to be 280 characters long, media outlets don’t need to leave out important context in their social media headlines.

One day later, @Slate is still running this **Blatantly False** headline. Headline: "Defense spending now exceeds all other programs combined"

Reality: Trump 2020 budget:

–Defense: $726 billion (16%)

–All other programs combined: $3,803 billion (84%) This is embarrassing. https://t.co/QSWeV8HkZn — Brian Riedl (@Brian_Riedl) March 13, 2019

Article body clarifies that they actually mean DOD exceeds non-defense discretionary spending, but that:

1) Is very different from headline,

2) Is an irrelevant comparison (why not compare to ALL spending?)

3) Has been true for 95% of U.S. history, so why pick on one Prez? — Brian Riedl (@Brian_Riedl) March 13, 2019

Any amount of defense spending is too much for Democrats and the mainstream media, but he’s right: this is not new and not exclusive to Republican administrations.

You all have no idea what you are talking about. pic.twitter.com/1kNd6CMpyQ — Brian Riedl (@Brian_Riedl) March 13, 2019

How is $750 billion greater than $3.75 trillion? — craig matteson (@csmatteson) March 14, 2019

I bet they slipped "discretionary" in the article and *whoops!* forgot it in the headline and/or Twitter tease. Not like it's a pattern or anything. :^] — CLA (@ConservativeLA) March 13, 2019

There are lies by omission and then there is the abyss. — Updoc is the new black (@Wit_recycler) March 13, 2019

"No one said there was going to be mathing!" pic.twitter.com/ccEhXlgw8j — joe r.n.a. (@b1joe) March 13, 2019

This is a disgusting lie — Richard Bitney (@RickBitney) March 13, 2019

This isn’t true. FYI — Yup, I’m DangerZone⚠️ (@HighwayToTheDZ) March 13, 2019

Not true — Proud Papist (@kyrie_eleison3) March 13, 2019

This is completely false. — JMD60 (@JMD_Runner) March 13, 2019

Wow, talk about fake news… Medicare/Social Security dwarf military spending — Klaus Barbarossa (@KlausBarbarossa) March 13, 2019

I guess that's true if you ignore Social Security and Medicare — Chris (@ChrisMears00) March 13, 2019

?????Discretionary spending, you absolute cretins, not total spending. It's less than 20% of total spending. Jesus Christ. — Cat Among Pigeons (@SadiqShami) March 14, 2019

I get Slate is one of the leaders of Fake News, but come on. Anyone with even a basic understanding of what’s going on knows this is a complete lie. Its intellectually dishonest. But not too worry. You guys will be out of money in the near future I’m sure like most fake news. — Jim Gibney (@Gibney_Jim) March 13, 2019

Are you using common core math for that calculation??? — DespeRobbo (@Desperobbo) March 13, 2019

Fact check: 100% absolutely positively false. — Jose Canyusee (@MaryCohen68) March 13, 2019

why doesnt the slate comment accompanying this article read:

“Trump’s budget achieves a milestone: Defense spending now exceeds all other discretionary programs combined”? the addition of that single word wouldve converted the comment from a lie to the truth my guess: stupidity — chris dattilio (@chris_dattilio) March 13, 2019

Trump's budget doesn't achieve anything unless it gets passed, which it hasn't and won't. So how does it make "Defense spending now exceed…" anything? It doesn't. You are #FakeNews. — Pablo (@Pablo_1791) March 13, 2019

Related: