” The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check,” JD Vance complained to Norah O’Donnell and Margaret Brennan, moderators of the vice-presidential debate, when they clarified a certain point about his claim of cat-eating immigrants in Springfield, OH.
“Nothing was ever scheduled or locked in. They also insisted on doing live fact checking, which is unprecedented.” That quote, from Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung, explained Trump’s decision to skip a planned 60 Minutes interview.
60 Minutes had scheduled interviews with both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris for its October 7 telecast before Trump withdrew this week due to fact checking.
So, what is this aversion to facts? Are we all now OK with alternative facts?
It is concerning to this voter that public officials and candidates, campaigning for the most powerful job in the world, are so averse to answering questions unless they have assurance that falsehoods will go unchecked and unchallenged. Is this what we have come to?
Repeating lies doesn’t make them true. But people begin to believe oft-repeated claims.
So, let’s fact-check a couple of recent claims. And please understand that I know Democrats stretch the truth, too, but in this campaign, the Right seems to take unusual liberties with the wild accusations.
Let’s not even discuss the fabricated message of “They’re eating the dogs – they’re eating the cats,” and the chaos Trump and his running mate have unleashed on Springfield, OH. That’s old news, but last week, after Hurricane Helene had destroyed entire cities in its path, former President Trump implicated the Biden administration in a scheme where the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. Georgia Republican Governor Brian Kemp has refuted the story, confirming he’s talked with Joe Biden on numerous occasions and that the federal government is being extremely responsive, but that does not deter the former president.
Far-right extremist groups have taken to social media warning that officials plan to bulldoze affected communities and seize the land from residents.
And unable to resist a great tale, Marjorie Taylor Greene has weighed in with the revelation that Washington Democrats can now control weather, using their powers to steer the hurricane toward Republican areas. That is some pretty precise weather control – perhaps they should steer a hurricane toward the western wildfires. Greene wrote on X “Yes they can control the weather. It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.” She did not say who “they” are, but I think we know.
A recent campaign ad shows a video clip of Kamala Harris saying, “Taxes are gonna have to go up.” It also shows those words on screen in big, all-caps text.
Harris’ statement has been altered for the political ad, with words cut out for effect. Harris’ actual comments, at an event five years ago, discussed corporate tax rates, and her intent to increase taxes for the top 1% of earners, stating “estate taxes are gonna have to go up for the richest Americans.” Trump’s campaign cut out five words, completely changed Harris’ message, and played the altered recording as truth.
Is that OK, now?
And one more, mostly because I know people who believe these accusations and it is distressing.
“Her vice-presidential pick says abortion in the ninth month is absolutely fine. He also says execution after birth — it’s execution, no longer abortion, because the baby is born — is OK,”
During the presidential debate, Donald Trump stated that a former governor had said, “we put the baby aside and then we determine what we want to do with the baby.”
Trump appeared to be talking about Ralph Northam, a former Democratic governor of Virginia, and a physician, who five years ago, was asked about a hypothetical case, involving a fetus with severe deformities that would not be viable outside the womb.
In that hypothetical situation, Northam stated that, “the infant would be delivered, the infant would be kept comfortable, the infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired.”
Republicans screamed and Dr. Northam responded, “I have devoted my life to caring for children and any insinuation otherwise is shameful and disgusting.” A spokesman for Northam expanded, “In these cases, where there is little or no prospect of an infant surviving after birth, families might opt for perinatal palliative care, or comfort care — prioritizing comfort while allowing an infant to die naturally without exercising full resuscitation efforts,” much like a hospice approach.
As PolitiFact has reported previously, willfully killing a newborn child is infanticide and illegal in all 50 states. Check the facts; they are hiding behind the podcasters.
Curt MacRae is a resident of Coldwater, MI, and publishes opinion columns regularly.
Tweets @curtmacrae — comments to rantsbymac@gmail.com
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