PolitiFact celebrated its 16th birthday on Tuesday and while some may mark the occasion by remembering about that one time they defended President Obama by citing an arms control treaty that went defunct in 1936, author Katie Sanders celebrated by highlighting the website’s devotion to left-wing causes.
Looking forward to Wednesday’s GOP debate, Sanders hyped “we have been fact-checking the GOP field all year, publishing more than 50 fact-checks already. Former President Donald Trump, our most fact-checked politician ever, may be making other plans, but we will be watching and investigating those checkable moments that make you go, ‘Really?!’"
She also claimed that, “Along the way, we’ve also kept President Joe Biden’s misstatements in focus, checking for exaggerations on his handling of the economy after inflation reached a four-decade high in summer 2022.”
Since January 1, PolitiFact has fact-checked Trump 17 times, rating him false, mostly false, or pants-on-fire 14 times (82 percent). Meanwhile, since the same date, Biden has been checked 22 times, but only been given a false, mostly false, or pants-on-fire rating 11 times (50 percent).
Sanders then moved on to PolitiFact’s partnership with Facebook and the work they do checking TikTok that includes such democracy-saving checks as “The immune system exists, despite what a TikTok may say.”
Additionally, Sanders hypes “ In 2023, we added a reporter to fact-check LGBTQ+ issues to complement our in-house experts on immigration and voting.”
That LGBTQ reporter is Grace Abels who only fact-checks ones-side of such issues. Beyond LGBTQ matters, PolitiFact’s reliance on experts is highly selective. Experts that agree with Democrats are given more credence than experts that agree with Republicans.
On these advocacy issues, PoltiFact is funded by the progressive Catena Foundation, which gave $50,000 for immigration issues in 2022. Additional left-wing PolitFact funders include Common Cause ($25,000 for Spanish language) and the Joyce Foundation ($122,000 for “voting and democracy issues).
Sanders concludes by urging readers to donate $16 or a sign up to be a “sustaining member” for $5 per month because nothing says $16 well spent like defending the supposed virtues of “chestfeeding” or being informed that Michelle Obama is not and never was a man.
