PolitiFact editor Angie Holan kicks off 'Purple Project' with Trump-O-Meter

<p>The Trump-O-Meter is modeled after Politifact's Obameter, which tracked President Obama's campaign promises.&nbsp;</p>

The Trump-O-Meter is modeled after Politifact's Obameter, which tracked President Obama's campaign promises. 

Donald Trump will soon have the chance to keep, break or compromise on his campaign promises, and PolitiFact will be following him the entire way. 

PolitiFact editor Angie Holan discussed the role of fact-checkers during the Trump administration at the Sanford School of Public Policy Wednesday night. In addition to fact-checking politicians' claims, the news organization keeps track of whether those in charge have fulfilled their promises. 

The President-elect's record will be monitored on the Trump-O-Meter, which is modeled after the Obameter that the website used for President Barack Obama. PolitiFact will also be tracking the promises of North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper on the Coop-O-Meter.

“Our job is to tell the truth,” Holan said. “Whether people listen to it and act on it or don’t act on it, our job is still the same.”

In 2009, the Pulitzer Prize-winning website debuted the Obameter to track Obama's promises, giving them rankings of "Promise Kept," "Promise Broken" or "Compromise." Of his 533 promises, Obama kept 48 percent and broke 24 percent, with the remainder ending up as compromises. 

“I think it is a myth that politicians don’t try to keep their promises,” Holan said. 

One of the notable "Promises Broken" by Obama discussed at length during the event was his promise to close the Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Holan said that the team would be waiting until Friday just in case of a last-minute negotiation. 

But PolitiFact will only be following 102 of Trump’s most important and high-profile promises to see how the businessman fares. 

The sharp decline in the number of commitments stems not only from the amount of time and effort necessary to follow such a large number of promises, Holan said, but also fewer policies being proposed by Trump during the campaign. 

Holan acknowledged that PolitiFact fact-checked Trump more than they did Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton throughout the election cycle, but that this was appropriate from a journalistic perspective. While Clinton’s remarks were most often carefully vetted, she explained, Trump tended to make more off-the-cuff statements. 

“When you say things that sound wrong, you attract the attention of fact-checkers,” she said.

Phil Nousak, a database analyst at the Center for Child and Family Policy, was skeptical of how fact-checkers could choose to take Trump's statements at face value. 

“How do you distinguish between a promise and just plain bullsh*t?” he asked during the question-and-answer session. 

Even though some of Trump's supporters might not expect him to fulfill all of his promises, Holan said, fact-checkers' job is to take what he said and follow it. Notable examples of items on the Trump-O-Meter include saving the coal industry, deporting all undocumented immigrants and bringing back waterboarding.

In particular, Holan joked that PolitiFact would be carefully monitoring White House documents to see if Trump violates his pledge never to say "happy holidays."

Some in the audience questioned whether the Trump-O-Meter would incentivize Trump to fulfill promises some consider undesirable, like reinstating waterboarding. Holan said in response that she doubted Trump would pay too much attention to his ratings, and that PolitiFact writes for the "average citizen," not politicians. 

Although she was hesitant to speculate on how Trump’s record would stack up after his time as president given his lack of experience in public office, Holan had doubts about some of his policies. For example, she said his promise to enact Congressional term limits was unlikely to succeed given Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's opposition. 

"I don't want to make any predictions on that, because it's really hard to tell what he's going to be like governing," she said. 

The event was sponsored by the Center for Political Leadership, Innovation and Service's "Purple Project," and was moderated by Bill Adair, Knight professor of the practice of journalism and public policy and PolitiFact founder. 


Bre Bradham

Bre is a senior political science major from South Carolina, and she is the current video editor, special projects editor and recruitment chair for The Chronicle. She is also an associate photography editor and an investigations editor. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief and local and national news department head. 

Twitter: @brebradham

Email: breanna.bradham@duke.edu

Discussion

Share and discuss “PolitiFact editor Angie Holan kicks off 'Purple Project' with Trump-O-Meter” on social media.