Diary of disturbing disinformation and dangerous delusions

This question:

“Why then for conservatives is the Second Amendment sacrosanct but . . . Roe v. Wade is not?” — CNN’s Don Lemon, May 4

We say: Does Don Lemon know what the Constitution is? He’s a top CNN talking head, yet he doesn’t seem to understand that the 2nd Amendment, guaranteeing the right to “keep and bear arms,” is part of that founding document, America’s supreme law, and is changeable only by other constitutional amendments. Supreme Court decisions like Roe v. Wade, by contrast, are merely judicial rulings. Under the Constitution, the high court can — and has — overturned earlier rulings.

This statement:

We say: It’s one thing for a CNN host like Lemon to be ignorant of basic civics, but a sitting member of Congress? Of course Supreme Court justices have the right to change rulings — on abortion or anything else. Yes, they’re supposed to respect precedent, but when they believe precedents are “egregiously” wrong (as Justice Samuel Alito notes in his draft opinion overturning Roe), they have a duty to overturn them. Does Rep. Pramila Jayapal (Wash.-D) think the court had no right to overturn Plessy v. Ferguson, which blessed the “separate but equal” doctrine? 

Spot the difference:

We say: Talk about spinning a story (under pressure, no doubt; the first tweet was deleted) to make a terrorist appear more palatable. No one should ever again have any doubt about the Gray Lady’s warped agenda.

This tweet:

We say: The president has legal authority to bypass Congress? Who knew? So Jayapal isn’t the only civics-illiterate congresswoman: Presidents aren’t allowed to ignore the will of Congress but, under the Constitution, must carry out the laws (and only the laws) it passes. AOC and Jayapal must’ve missed junior-high civics class during that lesson.

This fact-check:

We say: PolitiFact fact-checker Yacob Reyes rated rated Fla. Gov. Ron DeSantis’ claim — that “almost 60%” of student debt is “graduate-school debt” — “mostly false” because the actual percentage held by grad-degree households is “only” 56%. Huh? Are we in grade school? In his fact-check, Reyes also claims the actual share of grad-school debt (as opposed to debt held by households with graduate degrees) was only about 40%. But DeSantis’ main point — that under Dems’ loan forgiveness, truck drivers and waitresses would be paying off the debts of PhD’s via their taxes — stands. We’d rate Reyes’ fact-check “mostly false.”

— Compiled by The Post Editorial Board