As life has become increasingly bad, it's been harder for people to recognize the difference between fictional dystopias and the real one we're living in.

Comedian @pixelatedboat understands this dilemma well. Yesterday, he tweeted a seemingly obvious fictional excerpt from Michael Wolff's jaw-dropping new book about the Trump administration, Fire and Fury.

Tragically -- and yet unsurprisingly -- nearly everyone seemed to think it was real.

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Here's the original tweet:

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Wow, this extract from Wolff’s book is a shocking insight into Trump’s mind: pic.twitter.com/1ZecclggSa

— the gorilla channel thing is a joke (@pixelatedboat) January 5, 2018

After receiving 45,000 likes and 14,000 retweets, @pixelatedboat tried to clarify that he had written a fictional excerpt -- which should be clear if you're familiar with any of the comedian's hilarious work.

Those who weren't, however, were easily confused, to the point where @pixelatedboat had to change his Twitter handle.

tfw you parody a guy making up shit about Trump but people believe it so you become part of the problem

— the gorilla channel thing is a joke (@pixelatedboat) January 5, 2018

Wonder if this new display name will help. Probably not.

— the gorilla channel thing is a joke (@pixelatedboat) January 5, 2018

Folks can and should be forgiven for thinking that Trump's "gorilla channel" viewing habits were real. This is someone, after all, who reportedly watches up to eight hours of television a day and does not believe that exercise is good for you or that global warming is bad. Honestly, Trump begging for a gorilla channel doesn't stretch the imagination at all -- and it's a relatively benign fictional attribute, at least compared to his real life behavior, which is worse.

Animal Planet is prepared for that moment when it comes.

What makes for a Gorilla Channel? A lot of eating, sleeping, and, of course, playtime! pic.twitter.com/cnXOSSY07z

— AnimalPlanet (@AnimalPlanet) January 5, 2018

We would all rather Trump watch the gorilla channel instead of Fox and Friends-- so someone please hand Jared the remote.

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TopicsDonald Trump