As the front page of the New York Times editorializes about Trump waging a "War On Facts," it's a good time to remind you that the "fact checkers" are waging a War On Trump. July's target list from PolitiFact dramatically underlines their leftist tilt. They're not even trying to hide it.
In a review of "Truth-O-Meter" claims on elected or appointed officials in July, PolitiFact gave Republicans ten rulings of "Mostly False" or worse, and one Mostly True. There were no "Half True" ratings. It's 10 to 1. President Trump all by himself drew three "Pants on Fire" attacks, and two False flags.
By contrast, the Democrats drew zero "Mostly False" or worse ratings. There was one "True," two "Mostly Trues," and two "Half Trues." Or to contrast with the GOP, take out the half-takes and it's zero-to-three.
If you add the July numbers to our count of the first six months of 2025, PolitiFact tagged the Republicans as “Mostly False,” “False,” or “Pants On Fire” on 68 of 79 occasions (86 percent). The Democrats were rated “Mostly False” or worse in nine of 28 checks (32 percent). Donald Trump landed on the False side on all 29 occasions he was checked. Yes, Trump has been "checked" more than all elected/appointed Democrats combined.
For Democrats, Wisconsin State Rep. Francesca Hong was awarded the "True" grade, and California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Rep. Ritchie Torres of New York were graded "Mostly True." Newsom also drew a "Half True," along with House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries.
On the GOP side, Trump appointees were targeted: National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett (Mostly False), Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer (Mostly False), and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick (False). PolitiFact also tagged Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (False) and Sen. MarkWayne Mullin of Oklahoma (False).
The X account of the "U.S. Trade Representative" (Jameson Greer) was granted the surprising Mostly True.
This count doesn't include unelected political pundits. We reported Scott Jennings getting a "False" in July, but ex-Obama staffer Jon Favreau drew a "Mostly True."
We didn't count "fact checks" that don't employ the "Truth-O-Meter," including the shameless advocacy for radical former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) that black people still have poor health outcomes because of "the N-word." That also includes rolling out the claims of "misleading" evidence in "Fact-checking three of Tulsi Gabbard’s attacks on Obama about Russian election interference."
PS: We also did not include foreign leaders. Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu drew a "Pants On Fire" for saying there's "No starvation in Gaza." Now try using the PolitiFact search engine to find anyone from the Hamas side ever getting a "fact check" from the Poynter Police.
