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Each year we announce the PolitiFact Lie of the Year, and each year readers write us to express their outrage or praise for our choice. This year is no exception -- and in tone, many of the criticisms we received echoed the combative style of our Lie of the Year speaker himself, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.
Here is a selection of the criticism we received via email and Facebook, edited for space and clarity.
"Absolutely ridiculous that inconsequential statements by Trump overshadow the lies told by Hillary Clinton about Benghazi, emails, and other topics. Sad what is important to our society."
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"You should check the information you used to pick the Lie of the Year. Nothing Trump has said compares with the lies and obfuscations of Hillary Clinton and her loyal staff regarding a whole range of issues, including matters that have probably compromised national security."
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"You are so full of liberal crap! Hillary and (President Barack) Obama are the biggest liars on this planet and you naturally pick a Republican. Wow! It's a shame that you are so progressively biased!"
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"One problem with your Lie of the Year -- it doesn't take into account how many things Trump actually says. Trump gets 40 times more media coverage than the next candidate. He talks unscripted for hours at his public rallies. He calls in to news shows everyday and talks unscripted. If Hillary says 10 things and 2 are lies, then Trump says 10,000 things and 10 are lies. That’s much, much better truth-telling from Trump. If you want credibility with your numbers you need to include a lie-to-comment ratio. Until then your numbers are meaningless."
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"Organizations like yours are exactly why normal people do not trust the media. I suggest you guys climb out of your little cubicles, spend some time out in the big wide world, and try to grasp the reality of these failed globalist agendas and policies. This progressive agenda we've been on has been a disaster. It has cost us trillions of dollars, created thousands of enemies, and an unimaginable amount of lives on all sides. Trump may not be the most articulate or accurate, but at least he's got the guts to stand up for what he believes in and call things out like he has seen them. The amazing part is many people, myself included, are jumping behind him because we've seen and heard enough from the media, the phony politicians, and the insidious psychopathic globalists that permeate our nation's capital."
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"I’m no fan of Trump, but you all probably gave him a major boost with your partisan predictability. Hillary's lies are substantive, willful, strategic and of consequence. But she's a Democrat and you were never going to go there. Your recognition of Trump's lies as being on a greater scale than Hillary’s will only bolster the view of most Trump supporters that the media and PolitiFact is wholly in the tank for Hillary. And they would be right."
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Here’s a sampling of comments in support of our choice:
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"Donald Trump: the human equivalent of a Facebook Comment section."
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"That was pretty obvious! Too many people are falling for his lies."
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"I look forward to all my conservative friends who screamed ‘Lie of the Year’ when Obama said ‘If you like your plan, you can keep it,’ now telling me how this is a meaningless political stunt from the liberal media."
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"No surprise. What’s more amazing is that he has so much support for all his lies and insults. What a sad commentary for our political process that so many people think that someone who lies and is rude and disrespectful should be the leader of our country."
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"Remember folks, when it comes to many Republicans and now Trump supporters, facts do not matter, nor do the consequences of flamboyant statements. Trump supporters are trying to debunk PolitiFact, whose integrity is based on factual reporting. Trump is very good at building mistrust and animosity for those who call him out."
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"The idea that we now argue over what a fact is scares me. If Trump supporters don't believe proven facts, we're in trouble."
Our Sources
Emails from PolitiFact readers.
