
Jen Psaki’s White House briefing having wrapped up, and indeed former press secretary Sarah Sanders having confirmed her run for governor in Arkansas earlier today, it seems as apposite a time as any to check in with the Washington Post’s fact checkers, who have released their final count of Donald Trump’s lies in office, whether from the White House podium, from stages at rallies or, who knows, in tweets sent from the bath:
The final tally of Trump’s presidency: 30,573 false or misleading claims – with nearly half coming in his final year.
So writes Glenn Kessler in a valedictory post, released late on Friday night, that is of course well worth reading.
For more than 10 years, the Fact Checker has assessed the accuracy of claims made by politicians in both parties, and that practice will continue. But Trump, with his unusually flagrant disregard for facts, posed a new challenge … the database became an untruth tracker for the ages, widely cited around the world as a measuring stick of Trump’s presidency – and as of noon Wednesday it was officially retired.
Whether such a tracker will be necessary for future presidents is unclear. Nonetheless, the impact of Trump’s rhetoric may reverberate for years.
“As a result of Trump’s constant lying through the presidential megaphone, more Americans are skeptical of genuine facts than ever before,” presidential historian Michael Beschloss said.
Psaki’s briefings have started smoothly, the experienced press secretary riffling through her binder, stating the administration’s position, deflecting if caught off guard and, today, complimenting one reporter’s mask. Psaki also announced the return of regular Covid briefings, a practice which fell victim to Trump’s extraordinary appetite for untruth.
Nor were reporters subjected to attacks from the podium as they were under Sanders. Her campaign announcement, inevitably, included an attack on the media: