For the second time in two weeks, The Daily Show correspondent Desi Lydic helped viewers unpack the latest presidential primary debate during her new segment, “What the Actual Fact?” But this time, instead of eviscerating the Republican candidates and their various falsehoods, Lydic turned to the Democrats, who received slightly less scrutiny for their statements at last Saturday’s debate.
Beginning with Hillary Clinton, Lydic called into question the assertions that most of her donors have given small amounts of money. When you look at her fundraising totals, only 17 percent came from small donors. “So, even if most of her donors gave small amounts, most of her money came from donors who gave very big amounts,” the correspondent said.
Lydic deemed this statement “true but meaningless—like how Hitler was nice to dogs.” Still, that’s a lot better than the “wrong but adorable” grade she gave to Donald Trump.
Next up, Bernie Sanders, who claimed the U.S. has the “highest rate of childhood poverty” of any nation in the world. According to UNICEF, the U.S. only has the second-highest rate of childhood poverty, with Romania edging us out. “I hope food stamps cover crow, Bernie Sanders, because you’re about to eat some,” Lydic joked.
The only Democratic candidate Lydic could prove told anything approaching a bold-faced lie onstage was the most inconsequential of the bunch: Martin O’Malley. He claimed the highest tax rate under Ronald Reagan was 70 percent even though the 40th president worked to lower that rate throughout his administration.
Overall, the Democratic transgressions paled in comparison to the Republicans, many of whom were caught stretching the truth in significant ways. While some will claim liberal bias on The Daily Show’s part, isn’t it at least possible that the small group of Democrats are just… more honest?