We started this post by looking at one of CNN’s “Facts First” tweets from Tuesday night’s debate. President Trump said Joe Biden called his coronavirus travel bans “xenophobic,” but CNN notes that the claim lacks context: Even though Biden called Trump xenophobic on the very same day he announced the travel restrictions, there’s no proof the two were connected.
President Trump claims Joe Biden called him xenophobic for imposing travel restrictions.
Facts First: This is lacking context. #Debates2020 https://t.co/INNyaogVQl pic.twitter.com/gJUpmFzQ2r
— CNN (@CNN) September 30, 2020
Biden also “has never explicitly linked his accusation of xenophobia to these travel restrictions,” although when he calls Trump xenophobic it’s always handily in response to Trump’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, including banning travel from China.
We are in the midst of a crisis with the coronavirus. We need to lead the way with science — not Donald Trump’s record of hysteria, xenophobia, and fear-mongering. He is the worst possible person to lead our country through a global health emergency.
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) February 1, 2020
Stop the xenophobic fear-mongering. Be honest. Take responsibility. Do your job. https://t.co/nQ5aLVrpyb
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) March 18, 2020
Still, it’s “lacking context.” Biden could have been thinking about anything when those tweets went out.
Drew Holden kicks off his thread fact-checking the fact-checkers with that very moment:
?Thread?
After last night’s debate, I thought it was time to fact check the factcheckers.
There were a lot of bad claims – and more “facts” that went unchecked. I dive into them below.?
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
First, the “fact checks” that weren’t.
1. Trump xenophobia comment from Biden
Claim: Biden called Trump xenophobic for his travel ban.
Check: False from @nytimes, @washingtonpost & @CNN
Truth: Biden *replied* to a tweet from President Trump about the ban. This is cut & dry. pic.twitter.com/hZNjRNisaX
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
2. Biden & the Green New Deal
Claim: Trump alleged that Biden supports the GND
Check: False from @washingtonpost
Truth: Biden’s own website endorses the plan, as @guypbenson & others point out, and it pulls heavily from the GND (as @abcnews’s fact check makes clear). pic.twitter.com/KtYV5I13Qs
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
And seeing as no one’s counting on Biden being president very long, that would make Kamala Harris president, and if we’re not mistaken, she was one of the co-sponsors of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’ Green New Deal resolution — the one no senator voted for, including Harris.
(Also worth pointing out that Biden’s running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, is a cosponsors of and frequent advocate for the Green New Deal.) pic.twitter.com/N8IjD2zTCC
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
3. Trump & forest management
Claim: Trump said forest management is helping drive wildfires in CA & beyond.
Check: False by @washingtonpost
Truth: As @NPR & others have pointed out, a lack of good forest management is a major contributing factor to the fires. pic.twitter.com/cQQqQ6nket
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
4. Spying on the Trump campaign
Claim: Trump’s campaign was spied on in 2016.
Check: False by @CNN
Truth: Despite the consistent framing of ‘Spygate’ as a “conspiracy,” an FBI agent pleaded guilty to forging documents to spy on the Trump campaign. pic.twitter.com/h3mAGwxx30
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
And by “consistent” I mean everyone has talked about this issue in this way. Full thread here: https://t.co/K8ziPwi0CT
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
5. Biden & Rioters
Claim: Biden refused to condemn looting/riots
Check: False by @CNN
Truth: Biden failed to address the rioting for months – including at the DNC – and only addressed it when polling flipped, as @baseballcrank has pointed out: https://t.co/dZ1J0qBx42 pic.twitter.com/I1it8eVedJ
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
6. Slowest economic recovery
Claim: The economic recovery under Obama/Biden was the slowest in American history.
Check: ‘Misleading’ by @nytimes
Truth: This is just bizarre. NYT even confirms that the recovery was, statistically, the slowest, then tried to muddy the waters. pic.twitter.com/kng3TznE6h
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
7. No left-wing violence
Claim: Trump alleged that violent riots are driven by left-wing groups, such as Antifa.
Check: “Misleading” by @nytimes
Truth: Beyond the obvious images and video of Antifa et al, recent research also makes Trump’s point clear: https://t.co/EjOfXtIpWc pic.twitter.com/Llryb9mVyt
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
Even more egregious were the checks that no one seemed interested in doing. This is a long list.
1. We’ll start with the one most likely to trigger a lawsuit: Biden’s allegation – without evidence – that Kyle Rittenhouse is a white supremacist.
Entirely baseless. pic.twitter.com/8tvYaYfv7y
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
He’s gonna get sued for that one by the same lawyer who represented Nicholas Sandmann.
2. Trump & Wuhan.
Biden alleged that Trump made no effort to gain information about conditions in Wuhan following the coronavirus outbreak, out of deference to Xi.
Contemporaneous reporting from @nytimes, @abcnews & others details that he did (and even criticized him for it). pic.twitter.com/TU2N8eLH0J
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
3. The ‘both sides’ slander
Biden & Wallace alleged that Trump called white supremacists “very fine people” in Charlottesville.
As has been pointed out repeatedly by RCP, @RubinReport & others, this isn’t true. Trump immediately went on to condemn white supremacists by name. pic.twitter.com/crSaLalkFb
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
4. SCOTUS confirmations
During the debate Biden insisted that the Senate should wait to hear the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett.
No one – other than the Trump Campaign – has called out that, in 2016, Biden castigated Senate Rs for exactly what he’s encouraging Senate Ds to do. pic.twitter.com/qODqhTmQBQ
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
5. Hunter Biden
There were some fact checks on specifics around Hunter, and while we should all have more charity toward someone battling addiction, it’s patently false to suggest, as Biden did, that Hunter didn’t do anything wrong. (Cont.) pic.twitter.com/KfDHYz17fv
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
There was a full investigation by a Senate committee that unearthed plenty of bad, potentially illegal behavior from Hunter where he traded in on his family name to derive financial benefit from hostile foreign governments. Even @CNN’s @JohnKingCNN said so.
That’s wrong. pic.twitter.com/bWOg16hori
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
6. Efficacy of masks
I’ve had to repeat myself, over and over, on this one. Biden alleged that Trump didn’t do enough early on to support mask wearing.
The reality is that we had no idea whether masks would help. Here’s @CNN in March. @drsanjaygupta even did a thread. pic.twitter.com/MkvnSl1Ygf
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
Biden was still holding rallies in March. No one was wearing a mask then.
Full thread on the rewriting of history related to masks for those interested. https://t.co/cZ2z7P6g2R
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
7. Russian bounties on US servicemembers.
As I’ve reiterated time and again, there’s no evidence to suggest that the Russians placed bounties on American military personnel. A recent report from the regional command found zero evidence to support this claim. Here from @NBCNews. pic.twitter.com/18b4n96BMf
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
8. The existence of antifa.
Last night, Biden said that antifa wasn’t an organization, but an “idea.” This is absurd, and plenty of reporting and other monitoring has indicated that the group exists and is active and organized, including the ADL. https://t.co/EutCa0T1SV
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
When fact checks become an opportunity not to observe what is true but to push a narrative, not only do they lose their value, they do more damage by hiding behind a veneer of objectivity to push commentary. It misleads the American people and creates an inaccurate narrative.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 30, 2020
Fabulous work. Thanks. It’s like playing Whac-A-Mole.
— Cynthia P Garrett (@cgarrett101) September 30, 2020
It's amazing how little digging you have to do to find the actual truth. What a mess.
— Lover Of Ahegao (@LoverOfAhegao) September 30, 2020
Drew keeps the receipts. All of them.
— GianCarlo Canaparo (@GCanaparo) September 30, 2020
Once again, though, CNN’s poor fact-checker just couldn’t find more than a couple of Biden’s lines worth looking at.
Related:
Joe Biden says that $3.5 million wire transfer to his son Hunter has been ‘totally discredited’ https://t.co/GUT3TwkOcJ
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) September 30, 2020
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