Similar to the preceding nights, the third night of the Republican National Convention compelled fact-checkers to correct a litany of misleading claims and outright lies.
Among these was CNN fact checker Daniel Dale, who's made a name for himself in the political sphere with his comprehensive fact-checking of President Donald Trump on Twitter—no easy task, considering Trump has told over 20 thousand lies since the beginning of his presidency.
Dale appeared on Anderson Cooper's CNN show to correct what he could—and he spoke for nearly three straight minutes.
Quite a string of fact-checks here from @ddale8. pic.twitter.com/l97A9IAiaO
— Oliver Darcy (@oliverdarcy) August 27, 2020
Dale said in part:
"Anderson, there's just so much dishonesty and inaccuracy at this convention, it's hard for me to know where to start, and it's not just big things like this broad revisionism on the response to the pandemic. It's little inaccuracies, carelessness. We had someone, Lara Trump, cite a fake Abraham Lincoln quote tonight."
He pointed out the lies told by Vice President Mike Pence.
"A number of tonight's false claims came from the Vice President, Mike Pence. He repeated one of Trump's own favorite lies. He said that because of them, we now have Veterans' Choice. As I've said over and over, Obama signed that choice law in 2014. Trump signed a 2018 law that modified and expanded the Choice program, but did not create it.
Pence boasted twice that Trump had, quote, 'suspended all travel from China.' He didn't. He imposed a partial travel restriction that contained multiple exemptions. Tens of thousands of people, Anderson, kept coming over after that.
Pence said again that Biden wants, quote, 'Open borders.' I know this is common conservative rhetoric, but it's just wrong. Biden does not support completely unrestricted migration."
And that was just for Pence.
Dale went on to point out lies from Trump's daughter-in-law Lara Trump, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY), White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany, and others.
Dale said he could've continued for another three minutes had time permitted.
This is a partial list. I say I could've gone another three minutes. https://t.co/9gQINhKFyu
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 27, 2020
Wish I'd spotted this in the moment - might well be the most egregious dishonesty of this highly dishonest night. https://t.co/0RHu5dCSuk
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) August 27, 2020
Even for Trump and his allies, people thought this was an astonishing amount of lies.
Hard to fact-check when they create their own alternate reality. It would be easier to point out when they told the occasional truth. I meant to post this last night, but started listening to #HumanSleepingPill Mike Pence's speech & only just now woke up. #EnergyVampireVeep 😴💤 https://t.co/Ar9Z9J6lHg
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) August 27, 2020
“The result of a consistent and total substitution of lies for factual truth is not that the lie will now be accepted as truth and truth be defamed as a lie, but that the sense by which we take our bearings in the real world ... is being destroyed."
— Hannah Arendt (1967) https://t.co/p2T5HajImJ
— Steve Vladeck (@steve_vladeck) August 27, 2020
FACT CHECK AFTER FACT CHECK...
SO MANY LIES,SO LITTLE TRUTH https://t.co/LBb9orUHVP
— Bambi Koslen (@koslen_bambi) August 27, 2020
Great summary of tonight's lies. To be in the GOP, lying must be a prerequisite. pic.twitter.com/T5ATLMONJ7
— mitch singer (@msingerx) August 27, 2020
Others commended Dale for his machine-like ability to correct false information in such a short span of time.
Man. When CNN's fact checker @ddale8 gets into his rhythm, he IS the firehose of falsehood. Watch: pic.twitter.com/lzYnQ5xAjf
— Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) August 27, 2020
Yeah, @ddale8 might just be the hardest working person on television right now.pic.twitter.com/qCIkycVVMI
— Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) August 27, 2020
I can't overplay how incredible this is. @ddale packs at least a 500-word fact check column into 162 seconds with @andersoncooper. Seriously, check my math. pic.twitter.com/e427zK7Yvp
— Jason Kint (@jason_kint) August 27, 2020
Not all superheroes wear capes. Thank you, @ddale8. https://t.co/62eAcqHFpO
— Charles Gaba (@charles_gaba) August 27, 2020
Non-stop, energizer bunny fact checking from @ddale8 https://t.co/wIZ5V1Tc8p
— Richard Signorelli (@richsignorelli) August 27, 2020
The final night of the GOP convention commences at 8:30 on Thursday.
