Do left-leaning media fact-checkers show a bias against Republicans by over fact-checking innocuous claims from the Right while ignoring major blunders from the Left? Let’s let The Washington Post and Vox answer that question.
On Monday evening, President Donald Trump hosted the Clemson Tigers at the White House after the team became national college football champions. Trump personally purchased the food for the event – a massive offering of fast food items from McDonald’s, Burger King, Wendy’s, and Domino’s. Naturally, Leftists knocked him for his food choice.
Even dumber, some media outlets actually felt the need to fact check the buffet.
The Washington Post did – I kid you not – a deep dive into the banquet to try and determine how much it all actually cost, complete with a “Detailed Washington Post analysis” of the spread. The chart of the layout of the food was most likely meant to be humorous.
Nonetheless, after the Post determined that Trump likely spent between $2,437.11 and $2,911.44 on the feast, depending on whether he took advantage of McDonald’s 2-for-$5 menu, the outlet had to take some spiteful dings at the president. The Post notes that Trump originally said he bought 300 hamburgers, but later said he bought “1,000” burgers and later, “over 1000 hamburgers etc.”
Pictures seem to suggest the number was closer to 300, but we don’t know if there were more burgers in another room, or if Trump was totaling all the items but just said burgers, as his tweet about the event indicated.
“Great being with the National Champion Clemson Tigers last night at the White House. Because of the Shutdown I served them massive amounts of Fast Food (I paid), over 1000 hamburgers etc. Within one hour, it was all gone. Great guys and big eaters!” Trump tweeted.
Vox wrote an entire article about Trump switching from saying 300 burgers to 1000, ignoring the “etc” part of his statement that seemed to suggest he was referring to all the items. Couching Trump’s burger numbers claim as part of the president’s larger problem with lying (as if Trump is unique as a politician who misleads and lies), Vox notes that “this particular exaggeration isn’t a big deal in and of itself” but that it shows “how effortlessly Trump fibs about everything.”
But the Post takes the cake for most absurd fact check. It may be a joke (I hope it is) but given how the paper covers this president it’s kind of hard to tell. Trump said at the banquet that he bought 1,000 burgers for Clemson and that “It was piled up a mile high.” The Post felt the need to fact check this, writing:
FACT CHECK: At two inches each, a thousand burgers would not reach one mile high.
Take note, Republicans: Don’t use commonly used hyperboles or you may be fact checked.
To be fair, this analysis wasn’t posted under the Post’s fact checking section, and was not awarded any pinocchios, but its still indicative of the kind of treatment a Republican president receives compared to a Democrat president.