For the leftists on Twitter, the most "notorious" moment of Nikki Haley's CNN town hall with Jake Tapper was her assertion that biological boys in the locker room were spurring suicidal thoughts among girls: “How are we supposed to get our girls used to the fact that biological boys are in their locker rooms? And then we wonder why a third of our teenage girls seriously contemplated suicide last year.”
Washington Post "Fact Checker" Glenn Kessler then followed quickly behind and threw Four Pinocchios -- "Pants on Fire" Lie! -- at Haley for daring to say such a thing.
Wow. Nikki Haley just said teenage girls are contemplating suicide because transgender girls are “in their locker room.” pic.twitter.com/IeGYVWKdBH
— No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen (@NoLieWithBTC) June 5, 2023
Haley's campaign responded to Kessler's request for comment:
When we asked the Haley campaign why the candidate made this link, her spokesman responded with a statement he said was from Haley herself: “We have to grow strong girls, and that is being threatened right now. Whether it’s biological boys going into girls’ locker rooms or playing in girls’ sports, women are being told their voices don’t matter. If you think this kind of aggressive bullying isn’t part of the problem, you’re not paying attention.”
Kessler said that doesn't answer a request for evidence that boys in the locker room are spurring suicide. Kessler pointed out that there's no evidence of a survey that shows a suicide connection. That's a fact. So this is a valid item for a Fact Checker.
But it shows once again that the Post's idea of who and what to check is driven by the Left. The target selection is mostly Republican. You have to go back a month to May 4 to find Kessler checking a Democrat right now. Some might argue that Haley was more likely to be attacked by accepting an appearance on CNN. Republicans should take up CNN on an offer like this, but we might guess Lefty Twitter would get less upset if Haley sent the same message on Fox or Newsmax.
Also remember Kessler has a habit to withhold Pinocchios on Democrats. Kamala Harris lying that they had to "start from scratch" on a COVID vaccine drew TWO Pinocchios.
One reason why this inspired so much rage on Lefty Twitter is because they constantly suggest conservatives are spurring suicidal thoughts among trans youth by daring to oppose them. Use their preferred pronouns -- or else! Of course, Jake Tapper responded to Haley with that: "According to the Trevor Project, half of trans people and non-binary young people have seriously considered suicide in the past year. A lot of these [leftist] efforts are about trying to stop that." That's weaponized against critics: stop opposing us, or you want us dead.
Leftist media don't underline the Trevor Project is a very ideological group. They insist "LGBTQ youth are not inherently prone to suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, but rather placed at higher risk because of how they are mistreated and stigmatized in society." Would Kessler fact-check that assertion? Or are they immune from scrutiny?
The Trevor Project speaks the gospel of intersectionality, that the marginalized "are shaped by interlocking systems of privilege and oppression at the societal level, such as heterosexism, cisgenderism, and racism." These are the conspiracy theories that go unchecked by "fact checkers."
