CNN fact-checker explains why Biden didn't call Cruz & Hawley 'literal Nazis' when he compared them to Goebbels

This week, President-Elect Joe Biden took aim at Republicans such as Senators Cruz and Hawley by invoking Nazi propagandist Joseph Goebbels:

Biden invokes Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels and says Hawley and Cruz are as much a party to The Big Lie as Trump himself. “It’s the Big Lie,” he says. “The Big Lie.”

— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) January 8, 2021

Sen. Ted Cruz responded this way to Biden’s Nazi comparison:

Really sad. At a time of deep national division, President-elect Biden’s choice to call his political opponents literal Nazis does nothing to bring us together or promote healing.

This kind of vicious partisan rhetoric only tears our country apart. https://t.co/YMMepv1OhV

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) January 8, 2021

And with that, it was CNN’s fact-checker was on the job (for the Democrat):

Biden did not call his opponents literal Nazis. He invoked the concept of “the big lie,” spoke about how Nazi propaganda chief Goebbels used it, and said Trump and “acolytes” like Cruz and Hawley have now done a “big lie” of their own regarding the election. https://t.co/a1wpJz6Sm2

— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) January 9, 2021

If Biden’s current press secretary doesn’t work out, at least Joe knows he’s got a solid backup candidate at CNN.

CNN fact checker: Here's what Joe Biden really meant when he compared Republicans to Nazis… https://t.co/vrnFrzrBcN

— Mike LaChance (@MikeLaChance33) January 9, 2021

The amount of deference “fact-checkers” give to Democrats is nothing short of amazing.

This is a "journalist" saying that comparing your opponents to Goebbels and Hitler is NOT calling them Nazis.
Well, Hitler and Goebbels were also men, mammals and bipeds. Maybe @JoeBiden was calling them one of those? https://t.co/fksbxXFF06

— ConservativeNotCrazy (@IAMMGraham) January 9, 2021

So is this considered fact-checking or hair-splitting? Asking for @tedcruz and @HawleyMO. https://t.co/Ulq1jTINmp

— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) January 9, 2021

Remember, the only job of a mainstream media reporter is to justify, excuse and promote the activities of government officials and big corporations. https://t.co/8gcQ45p10g

— Kurt Schlichter (@KurtSchlichter) January 9, 2021

"Biden said that what Hawley and Cruz did is just like what Goebbels did, but that's not calling them Nazis" is a take. https://t.co/Yi3MNHmY7P

— Varad Mehta (@varadmehta) January 9, 2021

Is there a major difference between calling someone a “literal Nazi” and saying they do exactly what Nazis did?

This seems pedantic, Dan. https://t.co/86GIbfxDEg

— Geoffrey Ingersoll (@GPIngersoll) January 9, 2021

Biden 'splainers to the rescue.

When his words cannot stand on their own.

— Andrea E (@AAC0519) January 9, 2021

The next four years of "fact-checking" is going to be awesome https://t.co/zyOK3cjkYu

— Chuck Ross (@ChuckRossDC) January 9, 2021

The fact-checkers are going to have to go to their respective chiropractors after spending so much time twisting themselves into pretzels to explain away coming Biden administration lies and distortions.