One of the most vital pillars of a healthy democracy is the functioning of a free and independent press.
Unlike fascist dictatorships, where authoritarian leaders wield absolute control over state media operations, democracies empower journalists to serve the public interest through diligent investigation and analysis without fear of repression.
But some at MSNBC are now pushing for the media to “stop fact-checking Joe Biden,” in essence turning the network into a state-run propaganda machine — although, if we’re honest, every thinking American already believes it is one.
In a segment so absurd it almost looks like parody, MSNBC political analyst Claire McCaskill demanded that media outlets stop fact-checking President Biden until they fact-check former President Trump.
McCaskill’s comments came after The New York Times published a fact check of some of Biden’s recent economic claims, finding some were false, misleading or lacking context.
WOKE NYT AWAKENS! NYT Fact Checks Biden’s Wild Claims on Economic Record https://t.co/HReu7uAvLC
— Tina Romano Freda (@TinaTweeker) February 21, 2024
The Washington Post’s fact-checker also scrutinized some of Biden’s recent statements about COVID and vaccines.
According to McCaskill, former President Trump has lied far more often than President Joe Biden, yet receives less media fact-checking. However, data shows Trump has been fact-checked over 1,000 times by outlets like PolitiFact, far surpassing the 289 Biden fact checks on that site, according to Fox News.
Claire McCaskill: “It Is Ridiculous That The New York Times Fact-Checked President Biden,” While Trump Vomits Lies
Watch — https://t.co/zxPNfxDCwq
“I move that every newspaper in America quits doing any fact-checks on Joe Biden.” pic.twitter.com/mqsSB7igYO
— RCP Video (@rcpvideo) February 22, 2024
“Can I make a suggestion?” the former Missouri senator asked during an appearance on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” on Thursday.
“I move that every newspaper in America quits doing any fact checks on Joe Biden until they fact-check Donald Trump every morning on the front page. It is ridiculous that The New York Times fact-checked Joe Biden on something. I mean, he vomits lies, Trump vomits lies. Every day, over and over and over again,” she said.
“And it’s just ridiculous that The New York Times is doing a fact check on Biden, while they let Trump, like they’re numb to the torrent of lies coming out of Trump’s mouth,” McCaskill added.
“And that’s the thing,” host Joe Scarborough said, tacitly agreeing with McCaskill, while his co-host Mika Brzezinski showed a little more integrity by mildly qualifying the statement, saying, “I have no problem with a fact check on this White House, but they need to do the same [for Trump].”
“But again, this is what fascists do,” Scarborough cut in, ignoring Brzezinski’s attempt to contextualize McCaskill’s outrageous statement about quitting any fact checks on Biden.
“Fascists lie so much, and they always say it, you know, that Russia’s fire hose of falsehoods just like fascists. They lie so much that soon people get exhausted. And that’s where the exhaustion comes in,” he added.
Scarborough seemed to be completely ignoring the fact that the statement made by his guest was the definition of fascism, as evidenced by Russian state-controlled press.
McCaskill’s call for the media to cease fact-checking President Biden, which Scarborough refused to call out, represented precisely the type of authoritarian control over the press exhibited under fascist regimes.
Even if it were to take McCaskill’s statement as true that Trump “vomits lies,” Trump is not the president of the United States — Joe Biden is.
It is far more important to rigorously fact-check pronouncements from a sitting president than political candidates or former leaders. The precedent a free press should establish is that anyone in high office can and should expect intense interrogation of their statements as well as close inspection of their conduct.
MSNBC having a normal one.
Over a chyron that reads “DO MAGA REPUBLICANS HATE AMERICA?” — A former US Senator is very upset that NYT did a fact-check on Biden.
She demands media must stop doing that, and only fact-check Trump because he “vomits lies.”pic.twitter.com/07wZ81Kb7g
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 22, 2024
MSNBC may be in lock-step with the White House about not fact-checking Biden on anything, but some other media outlets are coming under fire from the White House for finally showing at least a smidgen of integrity in their reporting about the sitting president.
According to Mediaite, after Special Counsel Robert Hur released his report examining the classified documents found in President Biden’s possession, White House spokesperson Ian Sams fired off a letter lambasting media coverage on the issue.
Sams accused outlets like the New York Times of “striking inaccuracies that misrepresent the report’s conclusion about the President, and reporters in the White House Briefing Room have asked questions that include false content or are based on false premises.”
He also attacked the media for “false and inappropriate personal comments,” about Biden’s health and mental fitness. Sams specifically cited headlines and stories he deemed grossly inaccurate.
In response, White House Correspondents’ Asssociation president Kelly O’Donnell issued a sharp rebuttal. “As a non-profit organization that advocates for its members in their efforts to cover the presidency, the WHCA does not, cannot and will not serve as a repository for the government’s views of what’s in the news,” O’Donnell wrote, according to Mediaite.
“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech,” Benjamin Franklin wrote in his “Silence Dogood” letters at the age of sixteen.
It’s a lesson Biden’s lap dogs at MSNBC have still to learn.
