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WaPo ‘fact-checker’ Glenn Kessler gets fact-checked by Twitter Community Notes and it’s glorious

April 3, 2023

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Meet Glenn Kessler, a supposed Washington Post “fact-checker” who critics say acts more like a propagandist for the establishment left.

The latest example of his glaring left-wing bias comes from a supposed “fact-check” he published Saturday.

Titled “The incendiary claim that George Soros ‘funded’ Alvin Bragg,” the bogus “fact-check” alleges that it’s “simply false” to state that billionaire George Soros has “funded” Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

“Republicans are being slippery here. Claiming Soros ‘funded’ Bragg is simply false, but many rely on the more ambiguous phrase of ‘backed,’ which is technically correct by several degrees of separation. But it’s still misleading and worthy of Three Pinocchios,” the supposed “fact-check” reads.

As a reminder, Bragg is the DA who recently indicted former President Donald Trump over a hush money case from 2016 but who conversely routinely lets murderers and rapists off the hook.

New #FactChecker -> The incendiary claim that George Soros ‘funds’ Alvin Bragg https://t.co/wQr4klYmkU

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) April 1, 2023

Critics responded to the dubious “fact-check” by fact-checking it. How? Using “Community Notes,” a special Twitter feature that allows other Twitter users to tag a “fact-check” note to any spurious Twitter claim.

The fact-check of Kessler’s “fact-check” reads as follows: “Soros donated $1 million to the Color of Change PAC, the largest individual donation it received in the 2022 election cycle, days after it endorsed Bragg for district attorney and pledged more than $1 million in spending to support his candidacy.”

Look:

The amazing thing about this fact-check is that Kessler admits some of the same facts in his own supposed “fact-check.”

“Bragg was endorsed on May 8 of [2021] by the political arm of Color of Change, a progressive criminal justice group. In a statement that highlighted Bragg as the only Black candidate in the race, Color of Change said it planned to spend ‘over one million dollars’ on an independent expenditure campaign for Bragg, such as sending ‘eight robust waves of direct mail throughout Manhattan in May’ and then more direct mail in June highlighting early voting,” the “fact-check” reads.

“On May 14, Soros sent $1 million to Color of Change, federal election records show,” it continues.

Does this not prove, via the transitive property, that Soros did indeed essentially “fund” Bragg? Evidently not, according to Kessler.

“While that appears like careful coordination, both Soros and Color of Change say the two events are unrelated. Color of Change says it makes decisions on whom to endorse without input from its donors,” his “fact-check” continues.

So based on this claim alone from Soros and Color of Change, Kessler then jumps to the conclusion that Soros never “funded” or even “backed” Bragg.

Critics did not buy it. Leading the charge, hilariously enough, was billionaire Twitter owner Elon Musk:

https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1642244981065646080?s=20

https://twitter.com/blessed_wish/status/1642259574018256897?s=20

https://twitter.com/RobManess/status/1642272226236874753?s=20

Do you ever feel ashamed of yourself Glenn? Like is this what you imagined yourself doing when you were in college?

— Freb (@Grand_handsomer) April 1, 2023

Why is it incendiary to say that consistently one of the top Dem donors in social and political causes funds a particular official.

— Dan Gainor (@dangainor) April 1, 2023

https://twitter.com/realchrisrufo/status/1642172098746503168?s=20

Kessler did not take kindly to being fact-checked. In response, he posted a tweet decrying the fact-checkers as “trolls.”

“Twitter trolls who posted a ‘community note’ to this tweet apparently have not read the actual fact check. Click the link and you will find that Color of Change did not spend $1 million in independent expenditures on Bragg, as people often claim,” the tweet reads.

Look:

Twitter trolls who posted a "community note" to this tweet apparently have not read the actual fact check. Click the link and you will find that Color of Change did not spend $1 million in independent expenditures on Bragg, as people often claim. https://t.co/fCJVrCrvyW

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) April 1, 2023

It’s actually true that Color of Change did not wind up spending a full million, but nobody ever claimed that it had. They claimed rather, and accurately too, that Color of Change had vowed to spend $1 million.

Responding to Kessler’s latest tweet, critics once again trotted out the “Community Notes” to again fact-check his bogus, biased claims.

“The original Community Note says that the Color of Change PAC *pledged* $1 million. Soros donated $1 million to the PAC days after it endorsed Bragg and pledged more than $1 million in spending to support his candidacy. The PAC ultimately spent $420,000,” the new note reads.

Look: