Republican primary debate: How to fact-check in real time

It’s that season again: Presidential primary debates, and their politics, are upon us.

The first debate of the 2024 election cycle is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 23, at 9 p.m. ET, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It will air live on the Fox News Channel and Fox Business Network; it will also be streaming on FoxNews.com and Fox Nation. The streaming site Rumble, which features numerous conservative personalities as commentators, will also air the debate in partnership with the Republican National Committee.

The debate will feature eight Republican presidential hopefuls: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Govs. Nikki Haley (South Carolina), Asa Hutchinson (Arkansas), and Chris Christie (New Jersey), and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

Former President Donald Trump won’t be in attendance. Trump opted to skip this event and future debates, explaining in a post on his social media platform Truth Social that the public is already familiar with his “successful Presidency.”

He will instead appear in a pre-taped interview with Tucker Carlson, broadcast on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Regardless of Trump’s absence, his four criminal indictments will undoubtedly come up as his fellow GOP contenders try to explain why they’re a better choice for voters without necessarily offending his loyal supporters.

If you’re interested in fact-checking the candidates’ claims as they state them, you can consult the below efforts to evaluate their accuracy. Just remember that those fact-checkers could be prone to false equivalence, particularly as they try to sort through claims rooted in conspiracy theories, misinformation, or disinformation. They might also not consider some assertions as critical to vet in real time.

Consider, for example, how Nikki Haley suggested in a June CNN town hall that suicidal thinking and behavior amongst teen girls could be linked to playing sports with transgender athletes. While moderator Jake Tapper didn’t question the claim, it was roundly rejected as baseless online by clinical psychologists experts and LGBTQ+ advocacy organizations, and in subsequent media commentary. More than a day after Haley made the remark, the Washington Post‘s Fact Checker column debunked the claim.

In other words, if you suspect a candidate has falsely presented something as fact but don’t see it refuted by fact-checking operations, that may not be because what they said is indeed true.

How to fact-check the Republican primary debate in real time:

PolitiFact, a platform owned by the nonprofit Poynter Institute for Media Studies, will fact-check the debate live on its website, as well as on its Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, and X accounts. PolitiFact is also partnering with ABC News to fact-check its live blog of the debate.
CNN will cover the debate on CNN.com, where the news organization will provide live updates and fact-checking.