The general public is still recovering from Monday night’s presidential debate, and we have seen our fair share of hot takes from the unhinged political display. Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s surrogates are coming out of the woodwork to show their support for their presidential choice. New Jersey Governor and Bridgegate denier Chris Christie stopped by MSNBC on Monday night to call fact-checking a load of malarkey.
The issue of fact-checking has become a major talking point leading up to the debates. Debate moderators have said they will leave the task up to the candidates, as it’s not their job. Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton unveiled a fact-checking section of her website during the debate. MSNBC host Brian Williams brought up the point that the debate and fact-checking almost seemed like the event had “two wholly different conversations going on.” But Christie thinks these fact-checkers are not necessarily the most important part of the debate:
“If we’re gonna rely all the time on the fact-checkers, who also have an agenda, then we can discuss that as well..but what we also know is that Mrs. Clinton wasn’t answering all the questions that she was uncomfortable with tonight. There were some questions she answered, there many questions that she didn’t answer. I don’t know if that’s a fact check problem or an honesty problem.”
The New Jersey governor took issue with Clinton evading a question about her email and how she should be judged when she was an elected official. Yet Christie freely admitted that Trump and Clinton probably each got a few facts wrong, but he evaded questions about Trump’s truthfulness during the debate. He may have a point that fact-checking could lead to “gotcha” media moments, but they serve a greater purpose. These debates could easily fly off the rails, and if no one is keeping track of what a candidate is saying, we may get a whole bunch of confusing rhetoric. Christie may have a bone to pick with fact-checkers himself, who have earned his ire with the Bridgegate scandal.
