It's ordinary, and yet extraordinary: CNN's "Facts First" page of "fact checks" is all about President Trump. On their dedicated web page this morning, Trump is featured in 32 of 32 articles going back to late March. Everything Daniel Dale has written obsesses over Trump, just like his TV appearances.
The aggression is demonstrated by a massive April 28 article on "Debunking 100 Trump false claims from his first 100 days" that CNN.com promises is a "27-minute read." Dale summarized his thesis:
Aside from the staggering frequency and the trademark brazenness, what stood out was how repetitive Trump’s lying was. Though he regularly sprinkled in some fresh deception, he deployed a core batch of favored falsehoods again and again – undeterred by the fact that many of these claims had been publicly debunked for months or even years.
No one should argue Trump doesn't say false things and exaggerate, but Dale is clearly assigned to check on no one else.
Dale's list of 100 Trump false claims included lame Democrat arguments like Kamala Harris wasn't the Biden "border czar," since they claimed they didn't use the term, although on March 24, 2021, as CNN reported, Biden clearly announced Harris would "lead our efforts with Mexico and the Northern Triangle, and the countries that can help, need help in stemming the movement of so many folks, stemming the migration to our southern border.”
Then there was this comical exercise in nit-picking Trump's success:
27. Falsely claimed that his first full month back in office in 2025 had “the lowest level of illegal border crossings ever recorded.” It was the lowest number recorded since the early 1960s, but not the lowest “ever recorded.”
The "fact checkers" performed a similar spin during Trump's first term, when he would say something like black unemployment was the lowest ever in America, and they would point out that black unemployment had only been measured by the government since 1972.
Technically, there is one "fact check" on the page that was half-dedicated to evaluating Democrats...but found them "mostly true." On May 21, CNN's Tami Luhby penned a piece titled "Fact-checking Republican and Democratic claims about Medicaid cuts in the GOP bill." The only picture used was Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson. Luhby reported Trump was wrong to say no one would lose Medicaid coverage under the GOP bill. Then she ran a quote from Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) the Senate minority leader:
“In other heinous news for Americans this weekend, the House Republicans unveiled their plan for the largest cut to Medicaid in American history. The largest cut to Medicaid in American history. 14 million Americans, at least 14 million, would be ripped off of their health insurance under this proposal,” Schumer said.
No one checks on whether this restriction on eligibility (like excluding illegal immigrants and people who refuse to work) would be "heinous," like it was a murder or rape case.
Luhby gently noted "The Democrats’ assertions need context because their number factors in the expiration of the enhanced Obamacare premium subsidies at the end of 2025, in addition to the impact from the Medicaid cuts....All told, the Medicaid and Obamacare provisions put forth by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, along with not renewing the enhanced subsidies, would leave at least 13.7 million more people uninsured in 2034 than would otherwise be the case, according to an early CBO estimate."
