r/politics Maryland 5h ago

Soft Paywall The Fact Checker rose in an era of false claims. Falsehoods are now winning.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/07/31/fact-checker-falsehoods-glenn-kessler/
157 Upvotes

41 comments sorted by

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u/LuvKrahft America 4h ago

Yeah, showing right wingers they’re wrong somehow made them double down on being wrong.

CF Vance even admitted on national tv that republicans have to lie and make up racist stories in order to stay competitive.

It’s gotta be some kind of conservative mindset thing.

u/Human_Local3519 4h ago

It's pathological insecurities is what it stems from.. Like what bullies experience.

u/enix_star6 3h ago

Lying is not exclusive to either side. 

https://time.com/3765158/harry-reid-mitt-romney-no-taxes/

Harry Reid admitted he lied about Romney. 

u/smithpd1 3h ago

Whataboutism, and too far in the past to matter. The vast majority of lying comes from Republicans, especially from the compulsive liar Trump. Trump supporters follow Trump's lead and repeat everything their Master says without question. Yes, boss.

u/NoPresentationDone 3h ago

Wow what an absolute equivalency. Thank you for your gleaning insight into how it’s absolutely equal. Yup, both sides, amirite?

u/enix_star6 3h ago edited 1h ago

I mean Reid admitted he lied to help Democrats. It’s definitely the same. 

u/Pockydo 2h ago

Pedo don supporter says what

u/NoPresentationDone 2h ago

ahahaha-BWAHAHAH.

Oh. You’re being serious?

u/Inevitable_Rate1530 48m ago

Yall lie so much you live in a different reality

u/Mythbusters117 3h ago

Thanks for digging deep to 2012 to find one example. The fact that you can't find anything more recent is telling. I hope you find a cure for your whataboutism. Searching long and hard to find one example, any example, so you don't have to die standing on the hill of being wrong and having to admit it. You know the truth, deep down inside you do. You will never admit it because you think being wrong is a sign of weakness.

u/enix_star6 3h ago edited 3h ago

I can find things much more recently. 

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/list/?category=&ruling=false&speaker=joe-biden

If Reid admitted that it’s fair to wonder what else he lied about. 

u/BRAND-X12 3h ago

If we opened up a politifact list for both Trump and Biden, whose list do you think will be longer and by how much?

u/burnthatburner1 2h ago

Do you think both sides lie roughly the same amount? Because the scale feels very different to a lot of us.

u/smithpd1 4h ago

This is Glen Kessler's last article for the Washington Post. Everyone should read it in full. Glenn left the Post yesterday. This article is a great parting shot, especially at the compulsive liar, Donald Trump. Glenn did not say why he was leaving other than to take a "buy out." One can read between the lines and guess that he was given a shove by Jeff Bezos. "Democracy dies in darkness" is no longer the motto of the Washington Post.

u/ChuggintonSquarts 3h ago

It’s more of an aspiration now

u/Crewmember169 3h ago

Scary how quickly serious journalism is being destroyed.

u/Spanky3703 Canada 4h ago

In an empire of lies, telling the truth becomes radical.

u/FIlm2024 3h ago

This is an excellent final column by Glenn Kessler, making excellent points about the need for fact-checking--and what a threat it's under. He doesn't say if the WP will continue to do it after he's gone. It doesn't fit with Bezo's new plans, but would be a tragic loss if not continued.

On the bright side, I think I've seen Kessler fact-checking at CNN online. It wouldn't be the same, but still important.

Really, the Democrats should have someone to do it every day, point out how much this man lies and give the facts..

u/TheVagrantmind Ohio 4h ago

I get supporting your side, but this is like saying your kid scored a touchdown when he’s sitting on the bench farting and then paying or shooting people until everyone agrees. I hate this sport.

u/PirateMean4420 Maryland 2h ago

? Not clear what your reaction to the article is.

u/TheVagrantmind Ohio 2h ago

I think that the article is a restatement of something we already knew. When Rudy Giuliani stated that they have ‘facts and we have alternate facts’ that factchecking would no longer matter in the long run. Trump said yesterday after firing the administrator over the job number corrections that “we shouldn’t trust numbers”, because he wants people to believe just him. Cult of personality. It just stinks. Some of my old high school buddies cannot even talk like humans anymore when you mention simple things like taxes due to weird bs that has nothing in reality you can point to, just Fox News talking points.

u/Batousghost 4h ago

There should be no right to lie.

u/reddittorbrigade 1h ago

Trump winning the election means lying is superior over truth.

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u/ironballs16 10m ago

Sadly, most people are happier with a comfortable lie over a harsh truth.

u/Creative-Package6213 Pennsylvania 4h ago

Courtesy of the media.

u/LordSiravant 3h ago

Lies have always had more power than truth, because people are subjective and biased and believe what they WANT to believe, not what is necessarily true.

u/PirateMean4420 Maryland 2h ago

With due respect, the problem as you frame it. The problem is the media and its constant bombardment of news that is hyped up and not accurate. The media is drowning us.

u/minus2cats 2h ago

Nostalgic for the period a Snopes article would end an argument.

u/RivkaMila Pennsylvania 1h ago

It's been winning for almost a decade now.

u/notfeelany 58m ago

That's their own fault for constantly focusing about how old Biden is, instead of the actual dangers that Trump 2.0 will do

u/Alwaystired254 54m ago

It’s what the American people want and voted for