In July 2026, people online shared a rumor claiming that a group of six Louisiana-based "MAGA fans" collectively started a hunger strike they vowed would continue until writer E. Jean Carroll returned the $5.6 million payment a jury awarded to her following a sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit brought against U.S. President Donald Trump.
According to the claim, the six supporters — backing Trump and his "Make America Great Again" movement — were prepared to "starve to death," if needed.
For example, on July 15, a Facebook user posted (archived) the rumor as follows:
BREAKING: A group of 6 MAGA fans in Louisiana have just launched a hunger strike they vow will go on until E. Jean Carroll gives back the $5.6 million Donald Trump was forced to give her, or they starve to death.
Others shared the same text on Bluesky (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived).
Some users seemed to interpret the rumor as fact and Snopes readers contacted us to investigate its legitimacy. For example, one reader emailed, "Have 6 MAGA supporters in Louisiana gone on a hunger strike until E. Jean Carroll returns Trump's $5.6 million court-ordered payment?"
In short, this was not true. The rumor that MAGA supporters announced a hunger strike over Trump's payment to Carroll originated from The Halfway Post, a self-described satirical publication. If the rumor had been true, news media outlets would have covered it, and their coverage would have appeared in searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo. That was not the case.
Dash McIntyre, owner of The Halfway Post, posted the made-up story on July 14 on Facebook (archived), Threads (archived) and X (archived).
(@HalfwayPost accessed via X)
The Halfway Post's X account bio (archived) reads, "Dadaist graffiti news. Halfway true comedy and satire by @DashMacIntyre. I don't report the facts, I improve them."
Snopes messaged McIntyre on X to request comment and ask why he believes the hunger strike post, in particular, received more attention than so many of his other posts.
McIntyre previously directed us to an article about his "Dada News" content. That story described his writing as "comedic catharsis for liberals who briefly fall for the Dadaist headlines before recognizing that the punchline is how nearly imperceptible the brazen fictional absurdity is from the absurdity of reality in contemporary politics."
Carroll's case against Trump
A jury awarded Carroll a $5 million payment in 2023 following her sexual abuse and defamation lawsuit against Trump. She received the payment on July 13, 2026, with interest.
The Associated Press reported the jury found Trump attacked Carroll in a New York luxury department store in 1996, then later defamed her after she told the story publicly in her 2019 memoir, "What Do We Need Men For?: A Modest Proposal." Trump denied her allegations.
In 2024, a different jury also awarded Carroll $83.3 million in a defamation case following Trump's continued remarks about her. A federal appeals court upheld that jury's finding in 2025.
For further reading, we previously reported on a similar rumor claiming "MAGA fans" in Montana announced a hunger strike, vowing the protest would last until "Democrats stop calling Donald Trump and JD Vance 'weird.'"
Editor's note: Since the effectiveness of satire is subjective, we use the "originated as satire" or "labeled satire" ratings based on creators' description of their work.