PolitiFact was demoralized by the idea that Donald Trump was re-elected in 2024, but that doesn’t mean they’ve stopped rigging their “fact checking” apparatus against the Republicans. What’s truly amazing about the first quarter of 2026 is that the number of occasions they have rated Democrats as “Mostly False” or worse is at zero.
A NewsBusters analysis of all the “Truth-O-Meter” ratings of elected or appointed officials from January 1 through March 31, 2025 found the Democrats drew 11 “fact checks” -- one “True” rating, six “Mostly True” ratings, and four “Half Trues.”
By contrast, the Republicans were rated “Mostly False” or worse in 22 of 32 fact checks (69 percent). That’s zero “True” ratings, two “Mostly True,” eight “Half True,” four “Mostly False,” 15 “False,” and three “Pants on Fire” ratings (all three to Trump). Overall, the number of "Truth-o-Meter" fact checks is smaller than we've observed over the last several years.
There’s a disparity in the number of fact checks of 32 to 11, or almost three to one, and the disparity in “False” warnings is 22 to 0.
Trump now has 223 “Pants On Fire” flags, more than 19 percent of his 1,150 fact checks. He’s been on the False side on 894 of those 1,150 (77.7 percent). In this quarter, it was 13 out of 17 (76 percent). Trump hasn’t been on “True” side at all over the last 15 months. He drew one “Mostly True” after in October 2024, but for that election year, it was 68 to 1.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren was just awarded a "True" rating for claiming Trump has dropped more bombs on more countries than any president in the modern era, which was defined as since 9/11. Since she began running for office in 2012, Elizabeth Warren has been found "Mostly False" or worse in only six of 39 fact checks (15 percent). She's been "True" or "Mostly True" 22 times (or 56 percent). Warren's most relentless lie -- that she should qualify as Native American for claiming someone in her family said they had Cherokee ancestors -- was never ranked on the "Truth-O-Meter." She's never been rated "Pants On Fire."
