Did Donald Trump ever say "If you repeat a lie long enough, people will believe you"—is there a verified source or recording?

1. The meme and the book: where the popular attribution comes from

A viral meme has for years credited a line about repeating lies to The Art of the Deal; fact‑checkers examined the book and found no direct quote that explicitly advocates lying, noting the text instead describes “truthful hyperbole” and promotion tactics rather than the meme’s wording ^{[1] [2]}. PolitiFact and FactCheck.org both flagged versions of the quote as false or erroneous, saying the purported phrasing does not appear in Trump’s 1987 book ^{[4] [1]}.

2. Former aides: private comments that echo the idea

Former staffers and associates — notably Stephanie Grisham and anecdotes reported about Billy Bush — have said Trump privately told them that repeating claims can make people accept them ^[3]. Those accounts support the idea that Trump has endorsed repetition as a communications tactic in private; available reporting cites Grisham saying he told her “say it enough and people will believe you,” and Bush recalling similar conversations ^[3]. These are second‑hand recollections, not verbatim, on‑camera declarations.

3. Public record vs. private remarks: why verification matters

Public, on‑the‑record statements and recordings are verifiable; private anecdotes are not the same evidentiary standard. Fact‑checkers searching Trump’s published work and public speeches did not locate the exact line in question, which is why outlets concluded the meme and many online claims are inaccurate ^{[1] [4]}. Available sources do not mention a recorded, on‑stage instance where Trump uttered the exact sentence you asked about.

4. Context: the strategy critics called “firehose” or “big lie”

Analysts and newsrooms have described a pattern of repeated falsehoods from Trump and allies — labeled by some as the “big lie” or “firehose of falsehood” tactics — where persistent repetition of claims was used to overwhelm correction and create belief ^{[5] [6]}. Reporting on Trump’s repeated election fraud claims and other false assertions frames repetition as an observed strategy even if the short aphorism isn’t a verified Trump quote ^{[6] [7]}.

5. Disagreements and agendas in the sources

Fact‑checkers (FactCheck.org, PolitiFact, Snopes) emphasize textual verification and call the direct attribution false ^{[1] [2] [4]}. Political and news outlets that describe the pattern of repeated falsehoods (CNN, Reuters, The Guardian, BBC) frame it as an empirical behavior with political consequences; those outlets may carry implicit editorial judgments about intent and harm ^{[7] [8] [9] [10]}. Former aides’ anecdotes introduce a prosecutable angle but also reflect potential personal grievance; reporters note both their insider value and their limits as proof of an on‑the‑record statement ^[3].

6. What can be said reliably, per available reporting

Reliable conclusions from the cited reporting: the exact sentence you quote is not found in Trump’s public book or in widely archived public speeches, fact‑checkers have debunked memes attributing it to his book, and former aides have reported that Trump privately encouraged repeating statements until people accept them ^{[1] [2] [3]}. News coverage also documents a broader pattern of repeated false claims from Trump and allies that commentators call “the big lie” or “firehose” tactics ^{[6] [7] [5]}.

7. Bottom line for readers seeking verification

If you require a verbatim, sourced quotation or an audio/video recording of Trump saying “If you repeat a lie long enough, people will believe you,” available sources do not provide one and fact‑checkers have rejected the commonly circulated book attribution ^{[1] [4]}. If your interest is in whether he has used repetition as a communications tactic, multiple journalists, analysts and former aides report that he has encouraged and practised repetition — a claim supported by reporting but not by a single neat soundbite with a primary source ^{[3] [6]}.