Question: When did fact–checking become an outrageous abuse of debate moderators’ power?

Answer: When MAGA Republicans decided they didn’t like anyone pointing out that they’re lying.

In a perfect world, it might be enough for political opponents to correct each other’s prevarications and exaggerations. But Donald Trump’s entry into presidential politics, with his incessant flights of fancy and nonstop lying, have completely changed the dynamics. While other presidential candidates have stretched the truth, only one has kidnapped it, bound and gagged it, put it in a barrel and tossed it into the East River.

In the age of Trump, fact-checking has become a necessary service for moderators and other journalists to provide to voters.

Take the first and probably only presidential debate between Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, on Sept. 10.

Some Trumpers went bonkers after ABC News’ David Muir corrected one of the former president’s most egregious and dangerous falsehoods — that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were abducting pets and eating them. Muir noted that Springfield’s city manager said there were no credible claims of pets being “harmed, injured or abused by individuals within the immigrant community.”

“But the people on television say their dog was eaten by the people that went there,” Trump insisted in the course of a rant that launched a kajillion memes.

There is not a single television interview of any Springfield pet owner claiming their cat or dog was stolen and eaten by immigrants. There was a news story about a woman killing and appearing to eat a cat, but she was born in and lived in Canton, about 175 miles away from Springfield. (She was reportedly charged with “disorderly conduct by reason of intoxication,” among other offenses.)

In any case, Muir didn’t just have a journalistic obligation to call Trump on his race-baiting lie. He had a moral obligation to do so because that kind of incendiary claim can get people killed. Springfield has yet to recover from Trump’s collective character assassination.

In the first and only vice presidential debate last week, Ohio Sen. JD Vance picked up where Trump left off, blaming “illegal” immigrants in places such as Springfield for overwhelming schools and hospitals and driving up the price of real estate. Moderator Margaret Brennan of CBS News correctly noted that the Haitian immigrants Vance was alluding to are, in fact, here legally. Most have what is called temporary protected status, a designation that the Biden administration has expanded.

“Margaret,” Vance complained, “the rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check, and since you’re fact-checking me, I think it’s important to say what’s actually going on.”

He went on for a moment, but what’s actually going on is far too complicated for a debate sound bite, and the moderators soon cut both candidates’ microphones, which was allowed by the rules.

Trump supporters blew their lids.

“F you CBS — how DARE YOU,” posted the conservative firebrand Megyn Kelly, who was axed by NBC News in 2018 for suggesting that there was nothing wrong with white people wearing blackface for Halloween. Kelly, who herself famously tangled with Trump as a debate moderator for Fox News, also once insisted that Santa Claus cannot possibly be Black because he “just is white.”

The F-word, by the way, is apparently Kelly’s go-to response in defense of Trump. After the world’s most popular singer endorsed Harris, Kelly responded, “F you, Taylor Swift.” Elegant! I can’t wait to hear what she says about Bruce Springsteen’s recent Harris endorsement.

“‘Fact check’ has become just another word for censorship,” was the headline on a recent New York Post column by Douglas Murray, a senior fellow at the National Review Institute.

This makes no sense. Censorship implies suppression of speech before it is aired. In a broadcast debate, a candidate actually has to spout the lie before moderators can correct it.

Murray condemned Muir and fellow moderator Linsey Davis for failing to contradict Harris when she claimed that Project 2025 is “a detailed and dangerous plan … that the former president intends on implementing if he were elected again.”

“They must have known that the big Democratic boogey man ‘Project 2025’ has nothing to do with Donald Trump or his campaign,” Murray wrote, presumably with a straight face.

This is such bald-faced lie that I would be remiss if I did not fact-check Murray myself.

Project 2025 is a 900-page blueprint for a second Trump administration by the right-wing Heritage Foundation. At least 140 former members of Trump’s first administration are involved, CNN has reported, including six former Cabinet secretaries. It calls for, among other things, abolishing the Department of Education and Head Start, ending efforts to combat climate change, undermining the independence of the Justice Department, effectively enacting a nationwide abortion ban, and dismantling what MAGA Republicans call “the deep state,” known to those in the reality-based community as “government.”

A recent analysis by the nonpartisan Brookings Institution said that parts of Project 2025 “are more closely aligned with a white Christian nationalist worldview than a traditional, conservative education policy agenda.”

Once Project 2025’s radical plan to overhaul the executive branch became widely known and the public reacted negatively, Trump pretended as if he’d never heard of it. And the conservative, Trump-promoting New York Post would very much like you to believe that untruth.

As it happens, most Americans think debate moderators should fact-check. According to a June survey by Boston University’s College of Communication (my graduate school alma mater), more than two of every three Americans surveyed said “moderators should point out factual inaccuracies” in candidates’ statements during debates.

The survey did find a partisan discrepancy: While 81% of Democrats supported fact-checking in real time, 67% of Republicans did.

Gee, why do you suppose that is?

@robinkabcarian

A 100-foot wide “Vote for Trump” sign in upstate New York is stirring controversy after the City of Amsterdam claimed it’s a big, glowing code violation.

Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino told Fox News Digital he installed the sign on top of the old Fownes glove factory to symbolize the return of American manufacturing and what he calls “the triumph of the underdog against insurmountable adversity.” 

“I think that’s what President Trump did. He triumphed against massive adversity. He’s still doing that with bullets flying by his head,” Constantino said. “And we triumph too. Nobody thought we could build a massive sticker company or a massive tech company in upstate New York.”

But his company now faces adversity in the form of legal action by the City of Amsterdam to prevent the “displaying” and “illumination” of the pro-Trump sign, which is visible from the New York State Thruway. 

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According to court documents, the sign violates city code because it “presents a dangerous distraction and impacts traffic flow,” especially at night when it is illuminated. Local officials allege Sticker Mule was informed it would need a permit and several variances to install the sign in August, but the company never responded before the sign went up Oct. 1.

Constantino and his legal team contest the city’s claims. The CEO believes Amsterdam’s Democratic Party-endorsed independent mayor is anti-Trump and has vowed to fight a temporary injunction that requires the sign to be covered up. Amsterdam Mayor Michael Cinquanti did not respond to requests for comment. 

Dressed in a black T-shirt that said “Trump For Peace,” Constantino describes Sticker Mule as “the internet’s fastest growing printing company” with 1,200 employees in 39 countries. His online business began by making stickers but has since expanded to print T-shirts, buttons and magnets and even operates its own online store platform, Sticker Mule Stores. He is proud to report that Sticker Mule has created nearly 1,000 manufacturing jobs in the U.S. over the past few years.

“I like to move fast and do interesting things,” Constantino told Fox News Digital. Success in business gave him the means to reinvest in his hometown of Amsterdam, and the Fownes factory was one of several buildings he bought and restored, filling them with machines and workers. 

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Sticker Mule CEO Anthony Constantino speaks at an event in New York.  (Paul Antonelli)

“Fownes was a glove manufacturer that left my hometown when I was 2 years old in 1984,” he said, explaining that Amsterdam was “decimated” by job loss when the factory, with its iconic “Fownes” sign, closed its doors.  

“This Fownes sign for years symbolized American manufacturing going to China,” Constantino said. Now, the $150,000 “Vote for Trump” sign sits in its place, heralding a new era of American manufacturing jobs.

The impossible-to-miss sign attracted “major interest,” according to Constantino. To celebrate its installation, his political action committee, StickerPAC, plans to host a “Trump Sign Lighting Party” Oct. 7 at 6 p.m. A news release about the event says UFC superstars Henry Cejudo, Kelvin Gastelum and Tracy Cortez will join Constantino to speak and support the “historic event.” 

According to a representative for Constantino, House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., is also expected to speak at the event. Stefanik’s office did not respond to a request for comment. 

“The enthusiasm just went through the roof. We’ve got three UFC superstars that wanted to come see it. We’ve got people that want to come from all over the state of New York, people that want to fly in or drive in from all over the country, really, to see the sign get lit up,” Constantino said.

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The “Vote for Trump” sign in Amsterdam, N.Y., has been covered after a court-issued injunction. (Paul Antonelli)

But the festivities may be cut short by legal action from Amsterdam. On Oct. 3, the city code enforcer sent a notice of violation to Sticker Mule that gave the company two days to remove the “Vote for Trump” sign. The city also requested an injunction from the Supreme Court of the State of New York to prevent the sign from being displayed.

“The affidavit claims, without evidence, that the city will suffer irreparable harm because the sign is a dangerous distraction for drivers due to its novelty and the fear that people will stop to take pictures of it,” said Sal Ferlazzo, general counsel for Sticker Mule. “The court, based solely on the city’s presentation and without any opportunity for me to respond, did initially grant a preliminary injunction and restraining order.” 

A hearing is scheduled for Oct. 8 at 10 a.m. Until that time, the court ordered Sticker Mule to refrain from “displaying any sign and/or illumination of any sign on the roof of 26 Elk Street.” 

On the advice of legal counsel, Sticker Mule has temporarily covered up the pro-Trump sign to comply with the court order.

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The illuminated “Vote for Trump” sign at 26 Elk St., Amsterdam, N.Y.  (@stickermule | Instagram)

“I think it’s deeply disturbing,” Constantino said of the city’s action. “I brought nearly a thousand jobs to my hometown, which was decimated when the Fownes company and other companies left. And I’m trying to do something positive, exciting for the community.” 

He suggested Mayor Cinquanti has “TDS” — Trump derangement syndrome — and is fighting the sign for political reasons.

“They do know that they are in violation,” Cinquanti told The Daily Gazette. “They’ve been cited, and we’ll just let that play out as we would with any code violation.”

The mayor, who according to the newspaper has previously called Trump his least favorite president in American history, insisted the city’s objections to the sign are about safety, not politics. 

“I don’t care what the sign says, but distracting the attention of drivers on the freeway is something that needs to be looked at, and that’s what we’re doing,” he told the outlet. 

“Any sign that represents a hazard to the safety of drivers concerns me,” he added. “Anyone who violates city codes is an issue that we deal with, and we are in the process of dealing with it and trying to alleviate what I consider a hazard.”

Regardless of the city’s objections, Constantino said Monday’s event will continue as planned, “featuring UFC Superstars, Free Fish Filets, Cybertrucks and a beautiful Trump sign.”

“The sign is a beautiful sign whether you’re a Democrat or Republican. The sign is a big win for upstate New York, a big win for Amsterdam, New York. It’s a beautiful and uplifting sign. And I think it’s going to become a major tourist attraction, especially if Trump wins,” Constantino said. 

“It’s going to be a unifying event. I’m inviting Democrats and Republicans alike to come watch me unveil the sign. We don’t want all the division going on in this country anymore.”