News/Commentary

Turley dismantles NBC over ‘bizarre’ DeSantis fact-check

November 12, 2023 | | Print Article

Remember when Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said, “I sent planes over to Israel and I brought back over 700 people to safety.”?

Well, according to NBC’s “fact check,” the presidential candidate was half-lying when he made that claim at the recent GOP debate.

You see — and this might come as a shock to you — Ron DeSantis didn’t actually hop into a plane and personally fly those people home.

He paid for pilots to do that. So… it’s only “half true.”

“I kid you not,” wrote Jonathan Turley, who blasted the network for its “bizarre ‘fact check’.”

“DeSantis signed an executive order that allowed the Florida Division of Emergency Management to pay for Americans in Israel to fly back to the U.S.,” NBC’s Peter W. Klein reported. “But the flights were organized by a nonprofit, and DeSantis’ primary role was to fund the flights.”

“So how is it ‘half true’ to say ‘I scrambled resources in Florida. I sent planes over to Israel and I brought back over 700 people to safety’?” Turley asked. “He even made direct references to supplying ‘the resources’ for the flights.”

“The correction also implicates millions of parents who regularly say that they ‘flew the kids home’ for the holidays,” Turley noted. “NBC is suggesting that you should say ‘I supplied money to allow my kids to purchase tickets to have United Airlines fly them home.’ However, it was not the company as a whole that literally flew them back so you might want to say ‘to have employees of United Airlines fly them home.'”

Next up, Turley suggested, NBC could go after those “Jesus is my co-pilot” bumper stickers.

“Not only are the cars not capable of prolonged flight,” he stated, “but Jesus is not even licensed in any state to operate a motor vehicle.”

“For NBC, declaring this a half truth is still preferable to saying that it is true, particularly when the statement was preceded by a criticism of President Joe Biden in asserting that ‘[President] Biden’s neglect has been atrocious, we had Floridians that were over there after the attack. He left them stranded; they couldn’t get flights out,'” according to Turley.

“I’d say NBC is half lying,” said one user on X.

“I’d say that assessment is being generous to NBC,” replied another.

“NBC certainly hates DeSantis, but this isn’t about scrutinizing him,” said a third. “It’s about insulting the public’s intelligence. This is an argument a five-year-old would make.”

According to Turley, “NBC’s fact check brings new meaning to Benjamin Franklin’s warning that ‘Half a truth is often a great lie.'”

 

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Melissa Fine
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