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Moderators: If you don’t challenge lies, you might as well be telling them.

Another day, another depressing reminder of our broken political system. A recent poll finds bipartisan agreement on wanting fact-checking moderators for presidential debates—a sad but clear sign of our failing democracy, where lies and spin dominate and the truth is buried.

Published July 4, 2024 at 5:02am by

President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Donald Trump, attempted to fact-check each other in real time during the 2024 presidential debate hosted by CNN. However, their efforts often fell flat, with both candidates struggling to effectively challenge each other's statements. This left viewers largely in the dark about the truth, as the moderators had previously announced they would not be fact-checking the candidates.

PolitiFact rated nearly 30 claims made during the debate, finding that while Biden made some False and Half True statements, Trump's claims were largely untrue, with three Mostly False statements, a dozen False claims, and one Pants on Fire lie. Trump's proliferation of falsehoods made Biden's failure to push back even more glaring.

Trump sticks to script, misses fact-checking opportunities

Trump often ignored moderator questions on issues like climate change, the Capitol attack, and child care costs, opting instead to repeat familiar campaign trail talking points. In doing so, he missed chances to call out Biden's exaggerations and inaccuracies, particularly on the economy.

For instance, Biden claimed billionaires pay 8.2% in taxes, a false statement previously made by Biden and fact-checked by PolitiFact. Trump's only response was a "zinger" on Biden's separate claim about Medicaid.

Biden also repeated a mostly false claim about semiconductor jobs, stating they can pay over $100,000 without a college degree, which Trump did not challenge.

On Black unemployment, Biden accurately stated the rate was at a record low, breaking the previous record set under Trump, but Trump falsely blamed inflation on immigrants, claiming they're "taking Black jobs and Hispanic jobs."

Biden fails to rebut Trump's misleading claims

Biden, meanwhile, did not effectively counter Trump's myriad misleading claims on topics like the economy, taxes, and Afghanistan. When asked about his proposed 10% tariff on foreign goods, Trump claimed it wouldn't drive up prices, which contradicts economists' consensus.

Trump then made a series of false and misleading claims:

Before Biden could respond to any of these claims, the moderators moved on to other questions, and Biden later struggled to provide clear and detailed rebuttals, muddling his delivery.

Experts crítico lack of moderator fact-checking

Boston University's Tammy Vigil noted that the moderators' silence during Trump's false or misleading claims "clearly advantaged Trump," putting the burden on Biden to constantly counter.

While CNN defended its approach, citing post-debate fact-checking and the desire to focus on candidates' exchanges, a recent Boston University poll found that a majority of both Republicans and Democrats preferred moderators to correct false statements in real time.

Sources:

Read more: Presidential debate: Lack of fact-checks from moderators, candidates let lies prevail