WaPo fact checker rips media on Trump

Glenn Kessler, the Washington Post fact checker who doles out Pinocchios for politicians’ misstatements, seems a little angry.

He and his colleagues determined that 70% of the statements by Donald Trump that they fact-checked rated four out of four Pinocchios — like, completely false. And yet, Kessler noted Saturday, TV hosts allow Trump to repeat them unchallenged:

“For instance, Trump says he was against the 2003 invasion of Iraq, but research by BuzzFeed found that he did express support for an attack. He said the White House even sent a delegation to tell him to tone down his statements — and we found that also to be false.

Yet at least a dozen television hosts in the past two months allowed Trump to make this claim and failed to challenge him. There is no excuse for this.”

He and his colleagues have amassed a helpful list of The Donald’s whoppers for them and other media. Kessler said that while most politicians will change talking points after fact-checkers have deemed them false or misleading, Trump doesn’t seem to care. His representatives don’t even respond when they seek to verify the truthfulness of Trump’s statements.

Politifact in December awarded Trump's campaign falsities "2015 Lie of the Year," something he didn't take too well. He called the Pulitzer-winning fact-checker "bad news" and a “left-wing group” that will "make it out to a lie if you’re a certain person.”

“They are a very dishonest group in my opinion,” Trump said.

Um, OK.