New York Times Nerd Deserves Wedgie For Laughable Trump Fact Check

(Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

I’m a little late to this one, but it cannot go un-mocked.

During President Trump’s State of the Union address Tuesday, nitpickers at The New York Times issued a fact check worthy of a wedgie:

“Mr. Trump is probably correct that he has never seen a goaltending performance like Mr. Hellebuyck’s. Sportswriters praised the amazing game he played. However, the Canadian team had 42 shots on goal, and Mr. Hellebuyck stopped 41. An amazing performance, but only 41, rather than 46, shots stopped,” New York Times writer Julian E. Barnes chided.

Barnes suggested his pedantic squeal was a half-kidding joke, which makes the whole situation even worse. You would have to have the worst sense of humor in the world (or Asperger’s syndrome) to find that even slightly amusing. I have seen 80-year-old Catholic school nuns named Bernadette with better senses of humor.

WASHINGTON, DC – FEBRUARY 24: Members of the Team USA Men’s Hockey Team wave to the audience as U.S. President Donald Trump delivers his State of the Union address during a Joint Session of Congress at the U.S. Capitol on February 24, 2026, in Washington, DC. Trump delivered his address days after the Supreme Court struck down the administration’s tariff strategy and amid a U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf threatening Iran. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

In other words, you’d have to be an average diehard Times subscriber with a Manhattan zip code of 10024 to find it funny. I can imagine one such person, frantically refreshing The Times’s live commentary page on Tuesday night, waiting with great suspense for their favorite intrepid reporters to issue sober fact check after sober fact check of the evil, disinfo-spewing Orange Man. When Julian E. Barnes’s hockey hard-hitting correction popped up, they likely snickered and nearly choked on their fifth Chablis.

“Those silly sports ball rubes. They’ll believe him that it was 46 shots on goal, not 42!”

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