On debate night, CNN “fact checker” Daniel Dale suggested that Kamala Harris might have fudged the truth just once in her ABC cuddle/debate -- at least 33 by Trump, at least one by Harris. If you see Dale's face on TV, he's probably trashing the Republicans. (On Sunday, seen to the right, it was Springfield-pouncing in the 2 pm hour.)
Online on Saturday, Dale dug into the Harris X/Twitter account and its mangling of Trump. The headline:
Fact check: Harris campaign social media account has repeatedly deceived with misleading edits and captions
We haven't found any of this on CNN's air so far. Dale began:
A social media account run by Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign has been repeatedly deceptive.
The @KamalaHQ account, which has more than 1.3 million followers on the X social media platform formerly known as Twitter, has made a habit of misleadingly clipping and inaccurately captioning video clips to attack former President Donald Trump.
Oh, is that right? What would Dale select for public rebuke? He selected eight!
1. An August 17 post from @KamalaHQ strongly suggested Trump had gotten confused about what state he was in during an event in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The post said, “Trump: Would that be okay, North Carolina? (He is in Pennsylvania).” Trump was acknowledging North Carolina natives AT the Pennsylvania rally.
2. On Thursday, the @KamalaHQ account made a new attempt to suggest that Trump was confused about his location. Its post said, “Trump: ‘Pennsylvania, remember this when you have to go to vote’ (He is in Arizona).” But Trump was telling Arizonans about a Pennsylvania town facing a big influx of Haitian migrants. Dale ruled: "@KamalaHQ eliminated the context that would allow people to develop an informed opinion on this remark."
3. A Friday post from @KamalaHQ said, “Trump says ‘nothing was done wrong’ in Charlottesville in 2017 when neo-Nazis chanted ‘Jews will not replace us’ and killed an innocent woman.” But Trump was responding to how people mischaracterize his “very fine people on both sides” remark in Charlottesville, not saying that nothing wrong happened in Charlottesville.
4. On Thursday, the @KamalaHQ account posted a nine-second video clip of Sen. JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, speaking in an interview. The account wrote: “Q: Would you consider privatizing veterans health care? Vance: I think I’d consider it.” The extended Vance quote shows he said he would consider giving veterans greater flexibility to use private health care. but that he does not want to eliminate federal health care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
5. Dale noted the @KamalaHQ account frequently invokes Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation think tank’s right-wing policy proposals for the next Republican administration. An August 30 post from @KamalaHQ said, “Trump says he plans to bring back laws from 100+ years ago, echoing Project 2025: ‘We don’t pass laws like that. They are tough.’” The post included a seven-second clip of Trump speaking in Pennsylvania. "But the full video of the rally shows Trump was not even talking about Project 2025 or his future plans."
6. A September 5 post from @KamalaHQ said, “Trump tells his wealthy donors he is going to make his tax handouts for the ultra-wealthy ‘permanent’ and cut their taxes ‘even more.’” Team Harris cut off the quote right before he mentioned eliminating taxes on tips and eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits. Dale noted those are "policies that, whatever their merits or flaws, would certainly benefit people who are not wealthy."
7. An August 29 post from @KamalaHQ said, “Vance: Democrats want to attack Republicans as being anti-union and sometimes the shoe fits.” It included a five-second clip of Vance saying those words, but not the next words: "but not me, and not Donald Trump.” Shameless!
8. An August 28 post from @KamalaHQ said: “Trump operative on Project 2025: If you have principles without power, it’s meaningless. We must wield power. We must seize power.” Dale was compelled to rule "far-right activist and Trump ally Jack Posobiec" accurately noted he "never even mentioned Project 2025 in these comments."
Dale has an easy number 9 for this list! The KamalaHQ account promotes itself as "Providing Context." Nothing could be further from the truth!
