Tag: Assault on Facts
Off His Pace
The Senate has acquitted him of misdemeanors and high crimes,
But Donald Trump still has us watching closely for dementia signs.
In his State of the Union
We detected some confusion —
During the whole 78 minutes of speaking, he only lied 31 times.
Most Republicans Say fact-Checkers Are Biased
70%
A new Pew Research survey finds 70% of Republicans say fact-checkers tend to favor one side, compared with 29% of Democrats — a 41 percentage point difference. Conversely, 69% of Democrats say fact-checkers deal fairly with all sides, a view shared by just 28% of Republicans. Independents are more split, with 47% saying fact-checkers tend to favor one side and 51% saying they deal fairly with all sides.
WaPo Creates a New Fact-Checker Category Just for Trump
20
The Washington Post has instituted a new fact checking category — called “Bottomless Pinocchios” — for President Trump’s false claims that have been repeated at least 20 times and were originally rated Three or Four Pinocchios. “The Fact Checker has not identified statements from any other current elected official who meets the standard other than Trump. In fact, 14 statements made by the president immediately qualify for the list.”
Fact-Checking Trump Doesn’t Work
“If reporters dedicate time and energy to investigating whether known lies might be true, they will continue to cede control of the news cycle to Trump. … It’s a numbers game. The more he can get his key terms and images repeated in the media?—?even as ‘fact checks’?—?the more he wins. That’s just how our brains work. The more we hear about something, the more it sticks. Even if it’s not true.”
— George Lakoff
Max Boot Adds to the List – Five Trump Atrocities against Democracy in One Week
Amy Siskind tracks the crimes committed by Trump, his family and his administration on a weekly basis at her site, “The Weekly List.” Now Max Boot, one of the thousands (millions?) of Republicans who have left the party in disgust since Trump was elected, has an op-ed up at the Washington Post in which he lists five criminal outrages committed by the so-called president in just the past week.
