Five Times the So-Called Fact-Checkers Tried to Fact-Check Ted Cruz and Failed Miserably

In researching for my forthcoming book “Fact-Checking the Fact-Checkers,” it became obvious that there are some so-called fact-checks so poorly argued that the conclusions were written first, only for the fact-checker to then use any illogic to justify it.

Among those regularly singled out for some of the worst attempts at fact-checking known to man is Senator Ted Cruz, who the fact-checkers always have to rely on rather impressive feats of mental gymnastics when trying to “debunk” his claims.

Here are just five absurd examples.

Fact-Checker Calls Into Question the Existence of Antifa Itself

As part of a fact-check aimed at helping memory hole nationwide riots in 2020, a Newsweek fact-checker attempted to cast doubt on whether antifa is even a group that really exists. 

The poorly argued fact-check came in response to an appearance from Senator Ted Cruz on ABC’s The View, when the panel got into a fiery debate over who the “real election deniers” are. 

As Whoopi Goldberg began to bring up January 6th, Cruz fired back “Did I miss an entire year of Antifa riots where cities across this country were burning...?” to which she dopily replied, “I don't know what an Antifa riot is.”

To justify rating Cruz’s claim false, Newsweek’s Tom Norton argues that the majority of riots in 2020 occurred between late May to early June immediately before admitting that some of them did in fact continue for “nearly” a year in Portland, an antifa stronghold.  

To wiggle out of admitting that fiery antifa riots did in fact go on for longer than a year while rating Cruz's claim that they did false, Norton then comically adds that *not all* the Portland riots were characterized by arson. Here Norton inverts an infamous CNN chyron, arguing that the riots were violent but mostly-non-fiery. 

As if this wasn’t embarrassing enough, Norton also tries to argue that antifa actually-sort of-technically doesn’t exist, as there’s no formal organization called “antifa.” Was he expecting a violent militant left-wing group to register a 501(c)(3)?

The Case of the PolitiFact Legal Braintrust vs. the Texas Supreme Court

PolitiFact completely ignored one of their fact-checks being struck down by the Texas Supreme Court.

In July 2021, nearly sixty Texas State House Democrats attempted to block a voter integrity bill by leaving the state to prevent a quorum. The stunt gridlocked the State Capitol for thirty-eight days until Democrats dropped their holdout.

Senator Ted Cruz took a no-B.S. approach when the stunt was still ongoing and called for their arrest because “there is clear legal authority to handcuff and put in leg irons legislators that are trying to stop the legislature from being able to do business.”

But not so fast, said PolitiFact’s Brandon Mulder, who isn’t a lawyer but decided to fact-check the former Solicitor General of Texas, rating what Sen. Cruz said as false.

Mulder wrongly explained in his ruling: “The Texas House Rules states that absent lawmakers can ‘be sent for and arrested, wherever they may be found.’ But, because absent lawmakers aren’t charged with a crime, it’s unclear how the use of the word ‘arrest’ should be interpreted in this context. This is because no Texas court has reviewed how this provision is to be enforced. Thus, there is no legal clarity.”

This was obliterated by the Texas Supreme Court (whose members do have law degrees!) less than a month later when they allowed for the arrest of Democrats who don’t show up to the legislature. That led to arrest warrants immediately being issued for fifty-two Democrats and to the end of their political stunt.

Mulder never updated his article to acknowledge this.

Huffington Post Redefines “Gaslighting” to Gaslight

Even rags like the Huffington Post have entered the fact-checking game to some extent—and struck out after attempting to take a swing at so-called “Master Gaslighter” Ted Cruz, who correctly pointed out in April 2021 that Republicans never tried to pack the Supreme Court when they controlled the government.

Cruz said:

You didn’t see Republicans, when we had control of the Senate, try to rig the game. Just a few years ago, Republicans were in the same position. 2017, all of us were here, we had a Republican President, a Republican Senate, and a Republican House. We didn’t do this. We could have… You didn’t see us try to pack the court. There was nothing that would have prevented Republicans from doing what they’re doing other than respect for the rule of law, other than respect for basic decency, other than recognizing that democracy matters. And packing the court and tearing down the institutions that protect our rights is fundamentally wrong.

How is this Cruz’s “biggest lie yet”? Because, according to HuffPo, while Republicans may have never tried expanding the Supreme Court, “at least 174 district court judges and 54 appeals court judges” were appointed under Trump.

In other words, to debunk Cruz requires both redefining what court packing means (adding seats to the Supreme Court) and not even addressing the same court Cruz was talking about.   

HuffPo then further conflates “nominating and confirming judges” with “court packing,” stating, “Senate Republicans also confirmed three Supreme Court Justices.”

And they sure did—while keeping the number of seats on the court at nine.

A Pointless Fact-Check  

WaPo fact-checker Michelle Ye Hee Lee decided to fact-check a claim from Sen. Ted Cruz, found that it was true, then decided that despite it being true, it doesn’t matter that much.

Cruz had stated during a speech in 2015: “On tax reform, we, right now, have more words in the IRS code than there are in the Bible—not one of them as good.” Lee concedes that “Cruz is correct on the comparison of the words in both texts. But”—and then nine hundred words later, she decides that “this is a nonsense fact, something that is technically correct but ultimately meaningless.”

When John Nolte reached out to WaPo’s main fact-checker Glenn Kessler to ask if the WaPo had ever employed this kind of fact-check where they eschew a “nonsense fact” against a Democrat, which is just opinion, Kessler only replied that he disagreed that Lee’s opinion reporting was opinion.

The Truth, the Half-Truth, and Nothing but the Truth

PolitiFact’s W. Gardner Selby rated only “Half True” Ted Cruz’s August 2012 statement that the U.S. national debt is greater than the size of the entire U.S. economy.

Selby acknowledges that as of writing, U.S. GDP was $15.6 trillion, and the national debt was $15.9 trillion - and the consensus in the math community is that 15.9 trillion is a larger number than 15.6 trillion.

Selby then goes on to argue that this doesn’t really count because, of the $15.9 trillion in debt, $11.2 trillion is publicly held debt (owed to non-federal entities), and $4.8 trillion is intragovernmental debt (debt that one part of the federal government owes to another part of the government). Of the intragovernmental debt, Selby states, “Such money will have to be repaid, it’s presumed, but the demand is less pressing right now and it doesn’t affect credit markets.”

So Cruz correctly stated that the national debt exceeds the size of the U.S. economy, but that gets reduced to a “Half True” statement because Selby thinks that whether or not debt counts as debt is contingent on how pressing it is that you pay it back relative to your other debt.

Matt Palumbo is the author of Fact-Checking the Fact-Checkers: How the Left Hijacked and Weaponized the Fact-Checking Industry and The Man Behind the Curtain: Inside the Secret Network of George Soros
 

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