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Guy Ciarrocchi: Fact-checks that the “fact-checkers” somehow forgot

Strike Count: XX

UMP’S CALL
  • Inaccurate Claims on Crime and Policing: Harris stated crime is down nationally and denied supporting “defund the police” rhetoric, but evidence shows crime data reporting has significant gaps, and Harris publicly supported reducing police levels and fundraising for rioters in 2020.
  • Errors in Abortion Policy Claims: Harris’s assertions on abortion restrictions were misleading. She denied the existence of late-term abortions up to nine months, yet data shows eight states and D.C. lack abortion limits, and past legislative debates confirm concerns about post-birth abortion practices.

The moderators failed us —“bigly.” 

This was going to be the election remembered as the first “fact-check” presidential election. We have been seeing this in print media, on television and social media — “editor’s note,” “community notes” and good old-fashioned “fact checks.”

That was until the nationally televised debate where ABC news moderators only “fact-checked” former President Trump — never, ever Vice President Harris. They “fact-checked” Trump five times and they repeated a few of those. Yet, it’s worse.

Not only did they refuse to “fact-check” any of Harris’s “mistakes” — including previously known “fact-checked” lies about Charlottesville — the moderators’ own “fact-checks” were often wrong. 

The moderators were so biased and so wrong, so often, that to many Americans ABC News was the clear loser. Americans’ trust in the media sank even lower and those few remaining swing voters looking for facts or policy clarity were left misled, at best.

As a public service, here are a few of the many “fact-checks” that the moderators should have made to the inaccuracies — and lies — told by Biden’s Vice President, Kamala Harris, and a few times their “fact-checks” against Trump were wrong.

Harris proudly stated that Biden/Harris is the first administration that could proclaim success: No American soldiers are stationed in combat zones. However, American military stationed in and around Iraq, Somalia, and Syria — for example — would probably differ. (This is like Biden’s tragically inaccurate claim that no American soldiers died on his watch.)

Harris repeated the lie about Charlottesville. Trump actually gave a speech to heal wounds. Harris’s often repeated lie — that Trump called Nazi demonstrators “good people” — is so out of context and so diametrically opposed to what he actually said that for years even left-wing media outlets—like Snopeshave repeatedly stated that he did not say that and it’s wrong for anyone to suggest it. Where was that obvious fact-check, Mr. Muir? 

Trump pointed to Harris’s views and values being radical: Harris support for taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries for illegal immigrants. While she denied it, and her supporters went crazy on social media attacking Trump; the sad reality is that Harris has said it on camera, and stated it in writing on a candidate questionnaire, which was verified by Time magazine.

Harris tried to deny her support for gun confiscation — “we’re not taking anybody’s guns.” However, while she may not have ever put it that way, she has said repeatedly — including on the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon — that she would enforce “mandatory gun buy-back programs.” If the government takes away your guns by forcing you to turn in your guns — even for cash — that’s confiscating your guns. When your home is burglarized or your life threatened, you can’t just wave a wad of taxpayer cash at your would-be killer. 

Defund the Police: Despite denials, Harris did praise “defund the police” publicly throughout 2020. Harris said that and worse — according to even CNN — arguing cities should reduce and rethink police levels, and opposed increasing police levels: “It is outdated and actually wrong and backward to think that more police creates more safety.”

Harris also tries to deny or distance herself from her own social media posts from the summer of 2020–which are still public and easily found: raising money to bail-out the Minneapolis rioters who were arrested for violence, arson or worse. No mention, Linsey Davis?

Harris — and the moderators — alleged that crime is down. At best for Harris, this is a major dispute. Many Krasner-like DA’s are not charging people with felonies — e.g., shoplifting and robbery — and many cities — like Pittsburgh — are not submitting their crime data to the FBI.  That’s like saying the Eagles are scoring less touchdowns — if you don’t count Saquon Barkley’s.

The border czar now wants to secure the border, she says, but needs Congress’ help. Fact: Biden canceled Trump policies by canceling executive orders. Trump was 110% correct: Biden and Harris could issue their own executive orders today and secure the border and force the immigrant processing to take place in Mexico — and certainly not ship them to towns across the nation like Aurora and Springfield.

When it comes to abortion, at a minimum, Linsey Davis was wrong to “fact-check” Trump. And, they should have challenged Harris’ argument against the existence of nine-month abortions. 

Harris and Davis argued: there is no state that allows abortion post-delivery, but there’s more to that. Harris denied and the moderators ridiculed Trump’s statements about abortion being allowed in the seventh, eighth and ninth month of pregnancy — but Trump is correct.

Abortions up through month nine. Despite what the moderators said, even ABC News’s own post-debate fact-check — post-debate —acknowledged that eight states plus DC have no limitations on abortion up to delivery. One of those states — surprise, surprise, surprise — is Minnesota. Who’s the governor there?

Post-delivery abortions. Trump referred to the former Governor of Virginia (yes, he initially misidentified him as the former governor of West Virginia). Former Governor Northam, in a video-recorded radio interview, discussed then-pending legislation that would allow for babies born with disabilities or deformities to be “set aside and kept comfortable” after birth while a decision was made about whether to allow them to live. 

Yes, it’s so gruesome that it’s hard to believe but it’s on camera and true.

Abortion post-birth — in Congress. Lastly, on three occasions, the US House has voted on the “Infant Born Alive Act.” In part, this bill would require that any baby in America surviving a “failed” abortion attempt must be given all medically appropriate treatment to care for him/her to keep him/her alive after delivery.  99 percent of all House Democrats voted against this bill

Some states do not require babies surviving an abortion to be kept alive. Want to guess what one of those states is? And the governor who supported that law? (Hint: Tim Walz)

The moderators made their bias known to all fair-minded people watching. But it was far worse: they unfairly — and inaccurately — fact-checked Trump, never fact-checked Harris, and made statements that were obviously false or biased. Some were so inaccurate that even their own network had to correct the record — after the debate, when the cameras were off.

Americans were given false information by moderators, always biased against Trump.

The left likes to refer to the Washington Post motto: “Democracy dies in darkness.” I’m beginning to think they’re right — just not in the way they think.

Guy Ciarrocchi is a Senior Fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation. He writes for Broad + Liberty and RealClear Pennsylvania. Follow Guy @PaSuburbsGuy.

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