“You wouldn’t be surprised if those guys said something that ridiculous,” Dan Lyons, a veteran journalist, told Newsweek. “I kind of thought people would know it’s a joke, but I guess I should stamp it. That’s always the risk with satire.”

In a speech on Monday to first responders and others impacted by the September 11th terrorist attacks, Trump claimed that he also played a big role in the recovery efforts near Ground Zero.

“I was down there also, but I’m not considering myself a first responder. But I was down there. I spent a lot of time down there with you,” the president said. There is no evidence that Trump went to the site, but he did do a radio interview that day during which he boasted that his property at 40 Wall Street was now the tallest building in New York City.

It didn’t take long for Twitter to respond to Trump’s comment and within hours the hashtag #LostTrumpHistory was trending. The hashtag promoted some of the other false historical accounts that Trump has given during his presidency, like his claim on the Fourth of July that the Continental Army “took over the airports” in the Revolutionary War.

It was that hashtag that inspired Lyons, a humorist and best-selling author, to begin posting fake quotes from prominent Republicans who frequently defend the president even when he doesn’t tell the truth.

His most viral post featured Senator Jordan, who is quoted as saying: “While Obama and Biden were cowering in fear on Air Force 1, Mr. Trump was on the ground with first responders searching for survivors and pulling people to safety.”

The quote is a parody and Jordan did not actually say it.

Several users believed the post to be real, despite the fact that Obama wasn’t elected president until seven years after the terrorist attacks took place. As a result, “Obama and Biden” was trending on Twitter on Tuesday morning.

Other fake posts from Lyons include Rudy Giuliani, the former mayor of New York City and Trump’s personal attorney, and White House counselor Kellyanne Conway coming to the president’s rescue.

“I absolutely remember Donald joining the rescue effort at the World Trade Center. Absolutely. No question. He was there. He saved lives,” Giuliani was quoted as saying.

It’s not the first time Lyons has tricked people using satire. In the 2000s he created a parody Steve Jobs blog that became very popular. He’s also written for the hit comedy series ‘Silicon Valley.’ Before becoming an author, Lyons was a journalist for Forbes and Newsweek.

“Trump supporters are saying, ‘Oh look at how dumb the Democrats are that they fell for this’ or something. But I feel the prank is really that this is how bad the GOP has become that it’s like, ‘Yeah they would say this.’ That is not unthinkable anymore,” Lyons said.

“The joke is supposed to be about how these people not just sold their souls but they sold their reality,” he added. “The GOP is now willing to just go along with a fake reality.”