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Which local Montana news outlets first reported the MAGA hat burning claim and what sources did they cite?
Executive summary
Local Montana outlets are not clearly identified in the provided reporting as the originators of the specific November 2025 “MAGA hat/pedophile bonfire” claim; the items tracked here appear to originate from fringe blogs, social posts and satire/alternative sites such as Halfway Post and its reposts [1] [2] [3]. Wider, credible coverage documents separate, earlier instances of Trump supporters burning MAGA hats in July 2025 but does not tie those to a named Montana town “pedophile bonfire” event [4] [5].
1. No dominant Montana local outlet is named as the first reporter
The chain of material in the sample starts with blog posts and social posts repeating a “BREAKING” claim about a Montana town holding a “Pedohile Bonfire” to burn MAGA gear; those items show up on sites like Halfway Post and republished copies [1] [2] and on social threads [3]. The provided sources do not show mainstream Montana newspapers or local TV stations identified as the initial source of the November 2025 claim—available sources do not mention any named Montana local news outlet first reporting it (not found in current reporting).
2. The items in the sample rely on social posts, viral claims and satire
The Halfway Post article and republications framed the story as a “BREAKING” post and appear to be commentary/satire or blog output rather than traditional local reporting; Halfway Post itself describes a Dada News/comedy angle in its byline [1] [2]. The same messaging was circulated on Threads/X-style posts and reposts, which acted as the distribution vector for the claim [3]. Those posts did not, in the snippets provided, cite official municipal notices, police statements, or local news reports as sources [1] [2] [3].
3. Independent fact-checking found no evidence for the specific Montana “pedophile bonfire” event
Snopes examined the circulated claim about a Montana town holding a “pedophile bonfire” in November 2025 and concluded that searches found no evidence an event was set to take place or had taken place in Montana at that time; Snopes also notes the rumor drew on the broader context of released Epstein-related documents [6]. That fact-checking indicates the online claim lacked corroboration from on-the-ground reporting or official sources in Montana [6].
4. There is related, separately reported hat-burning activity earlier in 2025
Credible national outlets documented videos and incidents from July 2025 showing some Trump supporters burning MAGA hats in reaction to how the Epstein files and related controversies were being handled; The Guardian and Yahoo aggregated viral videos and reporting of such instances [4] [5]. Those July reports describe individual and influencer-posted videos of hat-burning, but they are not described in the provided sources as originating with or being organized by a specific Montana town public event [4] [5].
5. What the sampled sources actually cited — and what they didn’t
The Halfway Post-style posts and social threads cited viral video clips, social sentiment and rhetorical framing but did not, in the available excerpts, present named local officials, police departments, municipal calendars or local newsroom reporting as their source [1] [2] [3]. Snopes’ fact-check relied on searches and attempts to corroborate public records and local reporting and found none to support the Montana bonfire claim [6]. The national stories that documented hat-burning in July relied on viral videos and social-media posts as evidence [4] [5].
6. Competing interpretations and implicit agendas
One interpretation — advanced by viral bloggers and social posters — presented a dramatic, geographically specific “pedophile bonfire” narrative likely to attract shares and outrage [1] [2] [3]. Another, more cautious interpretation — echoed by Snopes and by mainstream reporting on hat-burning — treats isolated viral videos as evidence of individual acts or scattered incidents, not organized town-sponsored events, and warns against accepting unverified viral claims [6] [4] [5]. The satire/comedy origin of some posts (Halfway Post’s Dada News framing) suggests an implicit agenda to provoke or parody rather than to provide verified local news [1] [2].
7. Bottom line for readers and researchers
If you are trying to trace who “first reported” the specific November 2025 Montana “pedophile bonfire” claim, the materials provided point to fringe blogs and social posts (Halfway Post and reposts) and to spread via Threads-type posts, not to a named Montana newsroom; independent fact-checking (Snopes) found no evidence the event occurred [1] [2] [3] [6]. Separate, verifiable hat-burning videos from July 2025 exist but are not the same as a documented, town-sponsored Montana bonfire [4] [5].