All breakdowns
Every viral claim we've checked, newest first.
Showing 39 breakdowns
- Elections
Republicans kept 85% of Trump's share. That isn't evidence of fraud.
A post Trump shared says one formula fits 59 races. We rebuilt its 30 Senate races. They fit, and so did 2022's and 2018's.
- Missing context"One formula": 0.85 × Trump
- Misleading"Same 15%" everywhere
- MisleadingThe 58.5% flip line
- Wrong"Algorithm" (@WallStreetApes)
- Elections
A missed memory card did flip a Georgia House race. No sign of fraud.
Seminole County never uploaded one Election Day card. The state's check caught it, and the Republican took the lead. The "exact number" claim is wrong.
- Checks out388 votes flipped a House race
- Wrong"The exact number of votes needed"
- UnsupportedImplied fraud
- Elections · Money in politics · Courts
Montana voters passed a corporate spending ban. It isn't in force yet.
I-194 reaches nonprofits and, backers say, unions too. It starts Jan. 1, and the state GOP and four conservative groups have sued to stop it.
- Missing contextCompletely banned now
- Checks outRepublicans suing
- Elections
California's races ran close, not identical. No sign of an algorithm.
A viral post says California's results match too neatly to be real. Five races nearly tied. The post misstates the outlier and the court races.
- Misleading"EXACT SAME" percentages
- WrongCourt races: 72% (D) vs 28% (R)
- WrongLooks like an algorithm, so fake
- Elections · Immigration
The 20 million registrations add up. The noncitizen inference doesn't.
A viral map sorts 2022–2024 registrations by today's laws, most of which weren't in force then. Checks of the rolls have found few noncitizens.
- Missing context20 million new registrations
- Missing context37 states with no proof required
- WrongEnough noncitizens to matter
- Elections
A Republican was charged in a ballot fraud case. Not in the midterms.
Aidan Rowan faces 12 felony counts. They concern a June primary for local Republican committee seats, in which he was a candidate.
- Checks outGOP operative arrested
- WrongAlleged fraud in the midterms
- Iran war · War powers · Energy
Sanders's Iran war numbers mostly hold up. His troop count is stale.
The Pentagon counts 23 U.S. dead, not 19. The civilian toll and cost check out. Fuel, though well above prewar prices, has eased since September.
- Wrong19 American troops dead
- Checks outThousands of civilians killed
- Checks outTens of billions spent
- Missing contextFuel prices skyrocketing
- Elections
Democrats' House gain looks closer to 15 million than 20
A viral chart assumed only 85% of the vote was counted. The real gain is smaller, and exit polls show who cast it.
- MisleadingRepublican votes "stayed the same"
- Wrong20 million new Democratic votes
- WrongVotes "materialized"
- Economy · Elections
Stocks' worst day since April 2025, not one of the worst in history
Trump blamed the midterms. Analysts tied it to fears Democrats will curb data centers, but stocks rallied on the same results a day earlier.
- Misleading"One of the Worst Days in History"
- Missing contextDemocrats' wins caused it
- Missing contextYour 401(k)s dropped
- Economy · Inequality · Labor · Taxes
Sanders' wage and billionaire numbers hold up, with context
The federal minimum hasn't moved since 2009. Billionaire wealth rose sevenfold, 4.7-fold after inflation. But 30 states pay more, and 2009 was a crash year.
- Checks out$7.25 in 2009 and 2026
- Checks out$1.27 trillion in 2009
- Checks out$9.15 trillion in 2026
- Elections
Wisconsin doesn't have 7 million voters. It has 3.6 million active.
A 2022 hearing clip, back in circulation, counts every record in the state's voter database, including millions who can't vote, and undercounts the state's adults.
- Wrong7 million registered voters
- WrongOnly 4 million adult citizens
- WrongProof of mass voter fraud
- Health care · Congress · Budget
Medicaid work rules start in January. No Democrat voted for the law.
A viral post says Republicans' 2025 law starts in January and Democrats aren't to blame. The big Medicaid changes do. Much else already started.
- Missing contextStarts in January
- Checks out"Not the Democrats"
- Elections · Presidency
The 272 math works, but none of those states has joined the compact
A viral post says Democrats now control enough states to let the national vote pick the president. The math holds. Passing the laws is harder.
- Missing contextEnough states for 270
- Missing context"Effectively abolish" by 2028
- Missing contextTilts GOP, thanks to Wyoming
- Elections · Immigration
Minority voters didn't flip Texas alone. White voters swung too.
A viral post blames Abbott's loss on minority voters and H-1B workers. Exit polls show white voters swung too, and H-1B holders can't vote.
- WrongDriven by minority voters
- WrongH-1B workers voted him out
- UnsupportedNewcomers voted him out
- Elections · Money in politics
El-Sayed beat AIPAC twice. Filings so far show $31.5M of his $42M.
El-Sayed beat AIPAC's super PAC twice. Filings show $31.5 million against him or for rivals. A reported transfer of up to $9 million isn't filed.
- Missing context$42 million against him
- Checks outBeat AIPAC twice
- Congress · Elections
The GOP Congress didn't do "nothing." It did pass unusually few laws.
Matt Walsh says the Republican Congress did "precisely zero." It passed its signature tax and spending law, but few laws overall.
- WrongAchieved "precisely zero"
- Checks outUnusually few laws
- Elections · Money in politics
Musk's "nearly half a billion" checks out. So does "no return."
Federal filings show Musk gave about $446 million through Oct. 14, nearly all of it to help Republicans. Democrats won the House and Senate anyway.
- Checks outNearly half a billion
- Checks out"No return"
- Elections
Talarico won Texas by about 12, not 30. We found no sign of fraud.
A viral post mistook a 29.5-point swing for Talarico's lead. The swing was real, and it came on a night of big Democratic gains.
- Checks out2024: Cruz +8, Trump +13
- Wrong"Nearly +30%" for Talarico
- WrongThe swing is fraud
- Elections · Presidency · Media
Trump claimed no massive fraud that night and said he'd accept results
A viral post said Trump was claiming nationwide fraud as results came in. Before it, his fraud claims came that morning.
- WrongTrump claimed mass fraud that night
- WrongTrump disputed the results
- Elections · Courts
Oliver's "0 for 27" checks out. DOJ's voter-roll suits keep losing.
Oliver says the Justice Department is 0 for 27 in its suits for states' voter rolls. The count is right. "Baseless" needs context.
- Checks out0 for 27 in court
- Missing context"Baseless" lawsuits
- Elections
Election Day failures were real. The cheating claims are wrong.
Scanners failed in Westchester and check-ins froze in Broward. Posts called it Democrats cheating. Here's what happened, and who it slowed down.
- WrongWestchester: Democrats stealing
- WrongBroward: a Democratic fraud trick
- MisleadingElection Day voters 2-to-1 GOP
- Foreign policy · Budget
Trump's $4 billion for Israel checks out. A year-end cutoff isn't set.
Trump says Israel's U.S. aid ends this year by a deal with Netanyahu. The amount is right. Neither the deal nor the date is confirmed.
- Checks out$4 billion a year
- Missing context"They don't need it"
- UnsupportedA deal with Netanyahu
- UnsupportedCut off at year's end
- Congress · Elections
Johnson's clip lacks "committed crimes," but warns of investigations.
A viral post pairs a Johnson clip with words that aren't in it. He did warn that Democrats would investigate Trump's family.
- WrongThe "committed crimes" quote
- Checks outDemocrats will go after them
- Economy · Labor
Workers' share hit record lows on key measures. Pay has still grown.
BLS and gross-income measures are at lows. National income isn't quite. "Share of capital" is wrong, and a smaller share needn't mean smaller pay.
- Missing contextRecord-low share
- Wrong"Share of capital"
- WrongFalling pay or fewer workers
- Checks outProfits highest since 1950
- Immigration · War powers · Presidency
Obama's 26,000 bombs are real. "No approval" is the shaky part
The bomb and deportation counts hold up. Congress authorized some of those wars and funded the ISIS fight. Critics did object.
- Checks out26,000 bombs, 7 countries
- MisleadingNo approval from Congress
- Missing context3 million deported
- Missing contextObama got a pass
- Courts · Media
Trump's WSJ suit was dismissed again. "Never won" skips ABC's $16M.
A Reddit post says Trump has never won a defamation suit he brought. We found no court judgment for him, but ABC paid.
- Missing contextNever won as a plaintiff
- Checks out$10B WSJ suit, with prejudice
- Energy · Economy · 2026 Election
There's no data center mandate. Your bill depends on your grid
Trump's "mandate" is a voluntary pledge. On PJM, data centers raised capacity costs that reach bills. Elsewhere evidence is mixed. Ad claims fall short too.
- Wrong"Mandated by me"
- MisleadingNo increase, maybe a decrease
- Missing contextBrown: only higher bills
- UnsupportedTalarico: skyrocketing bills
- Elections
Tulare's duplicate ballots are real. They don't show cheating.
The registrar blames a printer for sending 7,791 Tulare voters a second ballot. Places where voters must ask for mail ballots sent duplicates too.
- Checks outOne in five got two ballots
- Missing contextA postcard is the fix
- WrongDuplicates mean cheating
- Missing contextMass mail voting causes this
- Economy · Health care · History · Presidency
Democratic presidents meme: right on FDR, wrong on health care
A Republican president created Medicare's drug benefit. The child poverty drop lasted a year, and Clinton balanced budgets with a Republican Congress.
- Checks outOut of the Depression
- Missing contextHalved child poverty
- WrongOnly Democrats expanded health care
- Missing contextOnly Democrats balanced the budget
- History · Economy
Hitler wasn't a left-wing socialist, but his party used the word
The name and the anti-capitalist talk were real. The record in power mostly points the other way. We also check a reply from the left.
- WrongA left-wing socialist
- MisleadingThe party's name
- Missing contextA socialist economy
- Elections
Minnesota's vouching law is real. The 'no record' claim is wrong.
One voter can swear to eight people's addresses, with no ID card shown. Oaths are kept. Most checks come after the vote.
- Missing contextVouch for 8, no ID needed
- WrongNo record of those vouched for
- Misleading8 each at multiple precincts
- MisleadingNothing stops abuse
- Energy · Economy · Iran war
Oil's war profits are real. "$125 billion richer" looks like a total
Oil profits jumped during the war. But Sanders's $125 billion matches total profit, and his $2,000 matches one economist's estimate.
- Missing context$125 billion richer
- Missing context$2,000 poorer, no fortune
- Checks outBig Oil's fortune
- Missing contextAt drivers' expense
- Elections
Trump's Brazil count checks out. Slow U.S. counts aren't rigging.
Trump says U.S. places that take weeks to count are rigging it. His Brazil numbers check out. The rigging claim doesn't.
- Checks outBrazil: 125M, same-day results
- WrongSlow counts mean rigging
- Social Security · Taxes · Economy
The Social Security cap is real. Lifting it alone won't fix the gap
Wages above $184,500 escape the tax in 2026. But the 75-year fix Sanders cites also taxes investment income, and it rests on 2022 projections.
- Missing contextMusk pays the same as $184,500
- MisleadingLift the cap, solvent 75 years
- Checks out$2,400 more in benefits
- Economy · Inequality · Labor
The $431-an-hour CEO pay chart checks out. Here's what it leaves out
EPI's newest data make the gap even bigger. But "CEO salaries" here means mostly stock, at the 350 biggest firms.
- Checks outThe $431.80 math
- Missing contextCEO pay up 18-fold
- Missing contextTypical pay barely grew
- Elections
The vote-flipping machine video is from Indiana in 2018
A viral post says machines in four states flip Democratic votes to Republican. Some voters saw it happen. Officials blame touch errors. Check the paper.
- WrongVideo of 2026 vote-flipping
- MisleadingMachines flipping D to R
- Elections
The second Dan Sullivan: reported recruiting, no proven crime
Trump says Democrats illegally recruited a namesake for Alaska's ballot and lied under oath. The reporting is serious. No crime is on the record.
- Missing contextDemocrats recruited him
- UnsupportedIllegally recruited
- WrongLied under oath in court
- Elections · Immigration
Washington's 400 flagged voters: a federal list, not yet a finding
Prosecutors flagged 400-plus voters as noncitizens a week before the midterms. Their list isn't public or tested, and similar lists have swept in citizens.
- Unsupported400+ noncitizen voters found
- Missing contextWA refusing to share voter rolls
- Unsupported"Thousands" voting
- Economy · Energy · Immigration · Elections
Biden gas $5.03, Trump gas $4.33: both real, not a fair comparison
Averaged over each term so far, gas has cost about the same under both presidents. We also check the cartoon's border and crime lines.
- Checks out$5.03 and $4.33
- MisleadingCheaper under Trump
- MisleadingDemocrats mean open borders
- MisleadingDemocrats mean more crime