Vance’s whopper on alleged Social Security fraud
“You look at people who are 150 years old who are fraudulently collecting Social Security payments. You see our Social Security system — 40 percent of the people who are calling are actually committing fraud. That means the 60 percent who need their Social Security checks are waiting in line.”
— Vice President JD Vance, during an interview on Fox & Friends, April 3
In the lexicon of the second Trump administration, “fraud” often translates to “programs we dislike.” The administration dismantled the U.S. Agency for International Development based on specious examples of alleged fraud.
Related Knowledge Center: Fact-checking and its detractors
Fact-checking has become a familiar tool for political reporters to hold office-holders and candidates accountable. But critics ask if fact-checkers sometimes miss the forest for the trees, and if the practice often struggles with false equivalency the way conventional political coverage does.