Networks Are Now Fact-Checking Trump’s Lies in Real Time and It’s Ruining His Campaign

Tom Cahill | August 5, 2016

Donald Trump isn’t good at telling the truth. And as the GOP presidential nominee’s lies stack up, media networks are finally pushing back.

According to Politico, the billionaire New York real estate magnate tells a lie literally every five minutes. After analyzing four and a half hours of Trump’s speeches and press conferences, the DC-based political gossip magazine counted approximately 60 lies so severe that the magazine would be forced to retract them if printed in their own publication:

His remarks represent an extraordinary mix of inaccurate claims about domestic and foreign policy and personal and professional boasts that rarely measure up when checked against primary sources.

Many were straight-up wrong, such as his claim that the United States has a “$500 billion a year trade deficit with China,” which has been debunked over and over by fact checkers, and his statement that he never settles lawsuits, when in fact he has.

In comparison with other prominent politicians and elected officials from both the Republican and Democratic parties, Trump leads the pack in lies told. In a chart assembled by fact-checking website Politifact, roughly 75 percent of Trump’s statements were rated “pants on fire,” “false,” and “mostly false.” The billionaire TV star lies even more than Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

In order to combat the flow of constant deception coming from Donald Trump, both CNN and MSNBC have begun fact-checking his statements using the lower third of the screen. CNN’s Brian Stelter documented this fairly new practice on Twitter. Geoffrey Sorenson, another Twitter user, noticed MSNBC was also starting to fact-check the GOP nominee using the bottom third of their screen. Both networks disputed Trump’s widely reported claim that Hillary Clinton bribed Iran with $400 million in exchange for political prisoners:

I'm noticing more & more on-screen fact-checking pic.twitter.com/vQ6BSg61ri

— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) August 4, 2016

Now @MSNBC's lower-thirds casually fact-check @realDonaldTrump. pic.twitter.com/8yAarBOfQC

— Geoffrey Sorensen (@GSorensen) August 4, 2016

It’s unclear whether or not the networks’ attempt to hold Trump factually accountable will have any effect on the presidential candidate’s future statements. However, Trump has recently blasted CNN as the “Clinton News Network,” alleging the network’s coverage is biased against his campaign.

Tom Cahill is a writer for US Uncut based in the Pacific Northwest. He specializes in coverage of political, economic, and environmental news. You can contact him on Facebook or via email at [email protected]