Former President Donald Trump doesn’t control the military, but not everyone believes it

Although Donald Trump is a former president and aspiring to a second term, he doesn’t control the U.S. military, as a recent Facebook post claims. 

"Trump controls US military!" the Oct. 4 post says. 

It was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The post’s 33-minute video provides no credible evidence to support this claim. Perhaps because there is none. 

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stated on March 7, 2019 in a Facebook post

Says Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, "We’ll never have to worry about China attacking us! They are 12 hours ahead, so we’ll have plenty of time to shoot down their missiles!"

Rather, it’s a montage of clips including unrelated Fox News broadcasts, TikTok videos and social media posts.

President Joe Biden is commander in chief of the U.S. armed forces, giving him authority to make decisions affecting each of the military branches. But, as the bipartisan Stennis Center for Public Service points out, the Constitution also gives Congress power to oversee the military. 

Someone who doesn’t wield such control? Trump. 

We rate this claim Pants on Fire!