Fact Check Fatigue
This administration has reached a milestone. President Trump has told over 12,000 lies, falsehoods , misstatements or distortions of the facts. It’s enough to exhaust even the most diligent journalist. Lying is the new normal for this administration. President Trump reached that milestone on August 5 and has added to it since, adding 13 false statements a day.
Reporters have even fact-checked Trump to his face, only to be ignored, and then have Trump tell the same lie on other occasions. In this case, it was about President Obama separating families. Trump insisted this was true, but walked away from a CBS reporter who challenged this, only to tell the same lie at a rally, later on.
Reporters have taken to unique ways to fact check his litany of lies. CNN’s Chris Cillizza, in his commentary “The Point”, often takes a humorous approach to the constant bumbling from this administration. His commentary is certainly on point (pun intended) while still holding Trump accountable.
With the tremendous amount of fact checking added to their responsibilities, I’m sure many reporters have given up tracking them; leaving it up to other news sources to provide the information. The sad part is, things will be missed and misinformation will be spread.
Perhaps this is the goal of the Trump administration. Inundate the media with lies so they won’t be able to distinguish fact from fiction.
His base has chafed at comparisons to Nazi Germany, but isn’t this exactly what Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, Josef Goebbels did? The same can be said of Fox News, InfoWars, Breitbart and other right wing media outlets.
They are complicit in his lies, and are often the basis for theem. The recent accusations involving Clinton’s and their connection to accused child molester Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide involved a re-Tweet of an unsubstantiated allegation. Despite this, Trump Tweeted it as fact.
Reporters need to continue to fact check his claims. They need to not fall prey fact check fatigue. Only then will the truth be told.
