The fact that you question whether The Atlantic would publish a false story demonstrates how uninformed you are.
I am old enough to remember when The Atlantic accused Trump of not wanting to visit where fallen soldiers were buried because he said the rain would mess up his hair. The white house claimed it was due to poor weather, security and logistics.
The author, Jeremy Goldberg, admitted in an interview afterwards that what the white house said was most likely true. He still stuck to the suckers and losers part, even after 19 folks on that trip signed affidavits saying he never said that.
