We are still climbing through the wreckage and aftermath of Tuesday’s presidential debate debacle, and the shamefulness in the media extends well beyond the moderators, David Muir and Linsey Davis. Across the media landscape, there have been rave reviews for their performance, despite the blatant departure from decorum and ethics, as we watched at times when Donald Trump was debating not Kamala Harris but the journalists seated before him.
One of the more galling reactions from the press was at CNN, where their revered fact-checking “expert,” Daniel Dale, came out with his rendition of the results. Dale tabulated, by his fractured measure, that Trump lied approximately three dozen times or so. Now, this is always an inflated figure as things such as opinions or projections made get flagged as “a lie” due mostly to interpretational judgment.
Daniel Dale looked at the lengthy debate and could barely find instances when Kamala Harris committed lies and delivered falsehoods. Seriously, this is his claim.
According to @ddale8‘s preliminary count, “Trump made at least 33 false claims.” Harris made at at least 1. pic.twitter.com/DJ1uaJwAfO
— Brian Stelter (@brianstelter) September 11, 2024
Seriously, he had to struggle to find any examples of Harris lying? This is the utter garbage dumped on us by the press this election and the gutter ethics from the “esteemed” fact-checkers. Since Mr. Dale refused to actually do his job, I apparently needed to do it for him. So here, Dan — here is a lengthy list of Kamala Harris falsehoods, beginning with at least two long-disproven quotes that are so hackneyed that it is remarkable she was even allowed to belch them out.
Have at it, Daniel, feel free to use these for any follow-up work you might ever be inspired to undertake.
HARRIS: “Let’s remember Charlottesville, where there was a mob of people carrying tiki torches, spewing antisemitic hate, and what did the president then at the time say? There were fine people on each side.”
The Facts- Seriously with this? It seems amazing this is still used after being repeatedly disproven for years already — but here ya go, Danny, Trump’s transcript, courtesy of your fact-check brethren.
HARRIS: “Donald Trump the candidate has said in this election there will be a bloodbath, if this — and the outcome of this election is not to his liking.”
The Facts– Trump, as we know, was referencing the auto industry, and then the greater economy when he said there will be a “bloodbath.” It is a common term, especially when discussing adverse economic conditions. Remember back in March when the RNC laid off most of its staff? It was described as a bloodbath…by CNN.
HARRIS: “Nowhere in America is a woman carrying a pregnancy to term and asking for an abortion. That is not happening.”
The Facts– It is happening in Minnesota, where her running mate comes from…and Minnesota is in America. Tim Walz actually altered the language of an abortion law to no longer require medical care and removed the reporting mandates when infants were born during failed abortion procedures.
HARRIS: “Couples who pray and dream of having a family are being denied IVF treatments.”
The Facts– This is a complete hysterical falsehood. IVF treatments are available and legal in all 50 states.
HARRIS: “What you’re going to hear tonight is a detailed and dangerous plan called Project 2025 that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected again.”
The Facts– Project 2025 was compiled by The Heritage Foundation, something it distributes regularly, and Trump has regularly dismissed it as he states he has his own agenda.
HARRIS: “But understand, if Donald Trump were to be re-elected, he will sign a national abortion ban.”
The Facts– This has never been proposed by Trump.
HARRIS: “My opponent has a plan that I call the Trump sales tax, which would be a 20% tax on everyday goods that you rely on to get through the month. Economists have said that Trump’s sales tax would actually result for middle-class families in about $4,000 more a year.”
The Facts– This is pure fabrication — Trump has never announced any sales tax plan.
HARRIS: “We have created over 800,000 new manufacturing jobs while I have been vice president.”
The Facts– Daniel, this one “needs context,” right? The bulk of that number was from 2021-2022, reflecting the return of those jobs from pandemic shutdowns. Since then, the manufacturing sector has been mostly stagnant, and in fact, in August, there were over 20,000 manufacturing jobs lost.
HARRIS: “Donald Trump left us the worst public health epidemic in a century.
The Facts– Is Harris really blaming Trump for the global pandemic??? She also avoids that three vaccines came to market as a result of his response, something she derided by saying, “If Donald Trump tells us to take it, I won’t take it.”
HARRIS: “I made it that very clear in 2020 – I will not ban fracking.”
The Facts- This is a prime example of Dale massaging things in favor of Harris. He calls this “misleading” when the truth is it is entirely untrue. During her run in the Democratic primary race, she said definitively, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.” In 2020, what she said during the vice presidential debate with Mike Pence was that Joe Biden would not end fracking. Trump would not be granted this soft-peddled “misleading” interpretation.
HARRIS: “He left us with the worst unemployment rate since the Great Depression.”
The Facts- It was during the pandemic in April of 2020 when the unemployment rate was over 14 percent, a direct result of the government shutdown during the pandemic. When Joe Biden took office, much of the workforce had opened back up, and he saw around a 6 percent unemployment figure.
HARRIS: “As of today, there is not one member of the United States military who is in active duty in a combat zone in any war zone around the world, the first time this century.”
The Facts– I’m sorry, how did Daniel Dale avoid this one?! This fact-check expert should check through the archives of his own network. We have thousands of troops stationed in Iraq alone, and Hamas has been targeting them on the regular. There was just a raid conducted on ISIS, mere weeks ago. CNN has reported on the drone strike on U.S. troops in Syria, and service members were killed in January when attacked in Jordan. This is a laughable dose of avoidance.
HARRIS: “Donald Trump has no plan for you. And when you look at his economic plan, it’s all about tax breaks for the richest people.”
The Facts– So…he has no plan, AND the plan he has is very bad?! Meanwhile, Harris has barely revealed her plans, after nearly two months since being announced as the Democratic candidate.
HARRIS: “The United States Congress, including some of the most conservative members of the United States Senate, came up with a border security bill which I supported. But you know what happened to that bill? Donald Trump got on the phone, called up some folks in Congress, and said kill the bill. And you know why? Because he preferred to run on a problem instead of fixing a problem.”
The Facts- Kamala and Daniel Dale ignore the reason for the block of the Senate bill was that the House passed a far more restrictive border bill, but Chuck Schumer has refused to allow it onto the Senate floor for a vote.
HARRIS: “This business about taking everyone’s guns away — Tim Walz and I are both gun owners. We’re not taking anybody’s guns away.”
The Facts- Yeah, about that…
Kamala Harris calls it a lie that she has intentions to take away from citizens.
I suppose we share differing interpretations on the definition of “mandatory”. pic.twitter.com/D4ul6nVeSN— Brad Slager: A Folksy Coach & Joyful As a K-Hive! (@MartiniShark) September 13, 2024
HARRIS: “I was at the Capitol on January 6th. On that day, 140 law enforcement officers were injured. And some died.”
The Facts– Completely untrue. No law enforcement individuals died on that day.
HARRIS: “And if you want to really know the inside track on who the former president is, if he didn’t make it clear already, just ask people who have worked with him.”
The Facts- This is not the dig she wants to bring up. Since becoming Vice President, Harris has watched over 90 percent of her staff leave.
HARRIS: “The United States Supreme Court recently ruled that the former president would essentially be immune from any misconduct if he were to enter the White House again.”
The Facts– Hyperbolic and completely untrue. The court decision pertains only to “official acts. Even Justice Roberts says of the decision in his ruling, “The President is not above the law.”
HARRIS: “I have a plan to give startup businesses a $50,000 tax deduction to pursue their ambitions, their innovation, their ideas, their hard work.”
The Facts- As Daniel likes to say, this is misleading. There is a $5,000 deduction for some startup costs and training of employees, but the bulk of her plan is a tax break on profits realized, not at the beginning of operations. If the business fails due to not turning a profit, the owner receives no benefit.
HARRIS: “It is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you to be president again because they’re so clear, they can manipulate you with flattery and favors.”
The Facts- And yet, Kamala was just endorsed by none other than Vladimir Putin.
______________
There you have it, Mr. Dale. Plenty of fodder for your fact-checking prowess to be applied to, in the interest of doing your job title. To say that Harris barely told any falsehoods or lies at the debate means only one thing:
We rate that claim — ENTIRELY FALSE.
