No, visually misleading is not the same as faking data.
The underlying thermometer data was real. The proxy divergence problem was real. The splice itself was real. The criticism is about presentation and labeling, not fabrication of measurements.
You're acting as though they invented warming that wasn't observed. They didn't. Instrumental records from multiple independent groups, using different methodologies, all showed warming regardless of the tree ring issue.
And no, replacing a known faulty proxy segment with direct instrumental measurements is not inherently unscientific if it's disclosed. The core dispute is whether some presentations made that transition sufficiently clear to non-specialist audiences.
You are trying to turn one controversial presentation choice involving one proxy into evidence that the entire field is fraudulent. That leap does not hold. If there had truly been systemic fabrication, independent observations would not converge.
The strongest critiques from serious climate skeptics are usually about climate sensitivity, attribution confidence, feedback magnitude, regional projections, and policy responses, not "warming is fake." Because the evidence that warming occurred is overwhelmingly robust independent of the tree ring controversy.