The 'Fact Check' follies of the liberal media

Andrew Syrios:

Not even Trump’s most ardent supporters make the case that Trump doesn’t have a tendency to exaggerate and make false claims. (Or as he puts it, “truthful hyperbole.”) That being said, the American people have been bombarded with a new, unbridled form of arrogance that has been unleashed in a vain effort to destroy him. Of course, I am referring to the self-anointed “fact-checkers.”

One article from the Huffington Post back during the election drew my attention to this new scourge. It claimed “Donald Trump Made Up Stuff 71 Times In An hour.” Here are a few examples,

“1. Claim: “[Ted Cruz]’s home state is Texas. It may be Canada.”

“Reality: Canada is not a state and Ted Cruz, while born there, calls Texas home.”

Fact checking a joke. Good start.

“5. Claim: “I’m a loyal person.” — Trump on his decision to stand by Lewandowski.

“Reality: Trump is famous for the phrase, ‘You’re fired.’ His marital history also conflicts with this statement.”

Trump’s subjective claim is obviously false. The only acceptable answer, obviously, would have been “I am literally Hitler.”

“12. Claim: ‘I see Hillary with Benghazi, you know the famous ad, three in the morning, guess what, the phone rang, she wasn’t there.’

“Reality: An email did surface showing that Clinton missed a briefing because she was sleeping. It was not a phone call. And it was at 10:43 a.m., with Clinton likely overseas.”

The Huffington Post then went on to claim Trump was lying when he said a particular deal “cost me an arm and a leg” because he still has both of his arms and both of his legs.

Indeed, nitpicking seems to be par for the course with fact checkers. The Washington Post has a page devoted to fact-checking everything that comes out of Trump’s mouth (or Twitter feed) and has meticulously documented his 8,158 “false or misleading claims” while in office as of this writing. The most recent is when Trump claimed “With China, every year, for many years, we're losing $375 billion...” But oh no Mr. President, the Washington Post is here to set you straight, “The U.S. trade deficit in goods and services in 2017 with China was $335 billion. Trump often just cites the goods deficit, which was $375 billion.”

Thanks for clearing that up, WaPo!

The best, most perfect example of this sort of hypersensitive “analysis” was put on display after the second presidential debate by NBC News. In a fact-check that will echo through eternity, they corrected the president-to-be on his blatant mischaracterization of the facts:

The Claim

Trump says Clinton ‘acid washed’ her email server.

The Truth

Clinton’s team used an app called BleachBit; she did not use a corrosive chemical.

There are simply not enough laughing emojis in the universe to properly respond to this.

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There is more.

It is hard to take these "fact checkers" serious when they are so tendentious.  They more nitpickers than fact checkers.  Sometimes their alleged fact checks are of opinions which by their nature can only be fact checked as to whether they are indeed his opinion and not whether the "fact checker' agrees with it.  They often are nothing more than brtiefs for liberalism.