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On 19 October 2016, New Yorker humorist Andy Borowitz published a satirical item about President Obama's signed an executive order mandating whichever candidate lost the 8 November 2016 presidential election must leave the United States forever: Although Borowitz's satire doesn't typically get mistaken for straight news, combination of public fascination with the near-magical powers purportedly contained in executive orders and the New Yorker's reputation as a venerable American periodical apparently enabled the joke to fly over the heads of many social media users. However, the story was not the first content from the popular Borowitz Report mistaken for real news on social media. Prior instances of Borowitz's work that confused users included claims George W. Bush described Bob Denver as a role model, Fox News pledged to shut down for routine maintenance on 21 January 2013 (the date President Barack Obama was inaugurated for his second term), and Chris Christie churlishly refused to retrieve Donald Trump's dry cleaning after Mike Pence was named as the candidate's running mate. Most satirical web sites aim to trick social media users into sharing fake (and often offensive) content, but Borowitz is one of the few actual satirists whose material circulates for the purpose of poking fun at political and current events via humor. His New Yorker bio states:
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