News is Dead

How do we fact check in an ocean of lies? In this episode Rick is joined by Bill Adair, the founder of PolitiFact and a professor at Duke University, to discuss the growing epidemic of political lying, especially within the Republican Party. They explore the history of political dishonesty, the role of conservative media in amplifying misinformation, and the challenges of fact-checking in an era dominated by figures like Donald Trump. The conversation highlights the danger that widespread deception poses to democracy and addresses the role of new technologies, like deepfakes, in further distorting truth in political discourse. Bill's book, Beyond the Big Lie: The Epidemic of Political Lying, Why Republicans Do It More, and How It Could Burn Down Our Democracy, available now.

Last week on Fox the term misinformation became a code word for a crackdown on free speech while Vice President Kamala Harris was vilified for not doing enough and for doing too much to help hurricane victims. Kayleigh McEnany’s friend might have met a Black person, Melania Trump was pushing her merch on ‘The Five,’ while Jessica Tarlov revealed Trump’s ‘God Bless the USA Bibles’ were printed in China.

With 20 days until election day, whodda thought talking about Fox News could be so fun and funny?! Catch up now with host Maya May and Decoding Fox News' Juliet Jeske. Punches were landed!

Fox News decided to lean into the skid and scare the bejeezus out of its audience with a combination of the longshoreman strike, increased violence in the Middle East and the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Late in the week Donald J. Trump told multiple lies about the federal response to the hurricane that Fox News hosts were happy to amplify. Sean Hannity mentioned lies about FEMA over 50 times in two days. Greg Gutfeld pretended he was an expert on climate change and a Harris supporter snuck into a Breakfast with Friends segment on Fox & Friends.

When Fox News doesn’t like reality it makes up its own. Fox News hosts pretended Kamala Harris was tanking in the polls when she’s actually gaining more ground on Trump. Fox also ignored the easily verifiable timeline associated with the criminal indictment surrounding New York City Mayor Eric Adams. The FBI started investigating Adams two years before the mayor started feuding with President Biden. Fox also gave up an hour of its airtime for Trump to use as a platform for his campaign. Jesse Watters compared Kamala Harris to an actual infant.