How to give Trump a real-time fact check

Just in time for the debate.

TV broadcasters have long struggled with the challenge of fact-checking Donald Trump. The lies come so fast, they're half-way around the world before the fact checkers have finished launching their word-processors.

I believe this video shows a way to keep up.

Most of Trump’s lies are from a repertory of lies. There’s no new work involved. Just recognize them as they fly by. When they hear a whopper, fact checkers can simply hit a button to launch an onscreen counter.

The details behindthe numbered lies can go up on a website later.

Test Case

Here’s an example. It’s from the press conference Trump gave at Mar-a-Lago on August 8, 2024.

Trump is bragging (as he does) about the size of the crowd (a favorite topic). He’s reminiscing about January 6, 2021 (a beautiful day).

For those interested, Here's the key to the 18 lies.

1. “The biggest crowd I've ever spoken before was that day” (January 6, 2021). Nope. His inauguration was bigger.

2. “And I'll tell you, it's very hard to find a picture of that crowd.” Nope. Just Google for it

3. “You never see the picture of the crowd.” Nope. All you have to do is look for it.

4. “The biggest crowd I've ever spoken"“- Nope. (see number 1)

5. “I've spoken to the biggest crowds.” Nope. Obama and JFK had bigger inaugurals. MLKJr had a much bigger crowd. Wavy Gravy spoke to a bigger crowd at Woodstock.

6. “Nobody's spoken to crowds bigger than me.” (see 5). Also, a bunch of Popes have done it. According to Guinness Rod Stewart holds the record for a concert at Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro (3.5–4 million). (I’m assuming he did some speaking between songs).

7. “same real estate.” Nope. Trump spoke at the Ellipse in front of the White House. MLK spoke to a crowd on the Mall from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

8. “same everything,” Some nothing. Trump is mixing up his venues. (OK, maybe this isn’t a lie. Maybe this a a mental glitch.

9. “same number of people” Not by anyone’s estimates. (see 5).

10. “if not - we had more.” Nope By all published estimates, Trump had fewer.

11. “And they said he had a million people.” Nope again. Most estimates put the March on Washington crowd at between 200,000 and 250,00.

12. “but I had 25,000 people,” Depends who’s counting. The AP said it was at least 10,000. The New York Times said “tens of thousands.” The Washington Post said “thousands” The report of the House Select Committee said: “From a tent backstage at the Ellipse, President Trump looked out at the crowd of approximately 53,000 supporters and became enraged. Just under half of those gathered — a sizeable stretch of about 25,000 people — refused to walk through the magnetometers and be screened for weapons, leaving the venue looking half-empty to the television audience at home.”

13. “but when you look at the exact same picture and everything's the same.” It can't be “the exact same picture” because it was a different location. Nothing’s the same. But, perhaps this isn’t a lie. Perhaps it’s a brain glitch. See below:

14. “from Lincoln to Washington” Trump’s addled brain is fixed on an image of The National Mall. He may be remembering a July 4th “Salute to America” celebration from 2019. That took place on the Mall. The White House was reported to be having trouble drawing people to the event (Guardian) and no official estimate was ever released. It was surely smaller than the 1963 arch on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.

15. “we actually had more people” Nope. Again. See above.

16. “They said I had 25,000” Nope. Who’s “they”? I’ve seen published estimates that are lower and higher. Haven’t found one that agrees with Trump’s claim. (see 12)

17. “a million people” He even exaggerates the size of King's crowd, which (as noted above) most people estimate at 250,000. Maybe his brain is conflating the 1963 March On Washington for Jobs and Freedom with the 1995 gathering known as the Million Man March called by Minister Louis Farrakhan. Despite it's name, Farrakhan’s crowd, while enormous, did not quite reach a million. Estimates range from 400,000 to 837,000.

18. "and I'm OK with it cause I liked Dr. Martin Luther King." I could count this as is a lie and a half. Clearly he's not OK with it. He brings it up constantly. As for whether he liked Dr. King, there's no direct evidence, but Trump's long history of racism would strongly suggest that he doesn't like anything that Dr. King fought for.