WaPo chief ‘fact-checker’ savaged for tackling Trump’s claim that windmills kill birds: ‘Cats’ kill more

Washington Post head fact-checker Glenn Kessler invited serious mockery on Twitter Monday, for attempting to debunk former President Donald Trump’s assertion that birds are "being decimated" by windmills.

In defense of windmills, Kessler noted that windmills kill "perhaps 140,000 to 328,000" birds "a year," claiming it was not a "significant" concern, at least not compared to the millions killed by cats each year. 

Conservatives on the social media platform tore into Kessler over the post, blasting him for downplaying the death of that many birds as some almost negligible number, and ridiculing him for taking the time out to dunk on Trump for such a claim.

Kessler’s heavily criticized post came in response to a colleague’s tweet. Washington Post investigative political reporter Josh Dawsey tweeted about Trump’s "very consistent" opinion on windmills on Monday, writing, "Trump has changed positions on various issues over the years, but he has remained very consistent on one topic: His fiery hatred of windmills. ‘Our Eagles, and all other birds, are being decimated by the Chinese built windmills,’ he writes on Truth Social."

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Unable to resist the urge of correcting the former president, Kessler retweeted Dawsey’s post and explained how Trump was exaggerating the problem, using data from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

He wrote, "Wind turbines do not kill birds to any significant degree, perhaps 140,000 to 328,000 a year, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. By contrast, more than a billion birds are estimated to be killed by cats every year, and millions more are lost to vehicles, etc."

Grabien.com founder Tom Elliott immediately lampooned Kessler’s post, writing, "’If Trump is defending birds, I support their slaughter’ – Kessler."

In an earlier tweet, Elliott wrote, "Glenn Kessler does a hilarious parody of the left-wing ‘fact check’ industry."

Show runner of the sci-fi TV series "Stargate," Joseph Mallozi, shared a recent tweet about news from the UK detailing how a wind turbine killed an extremely rare bird in front of bird watchers. "I'm sure a cat would have got him eventually," Mallozi commented, mocking Kessler.

Conservative sports radio host Tony Bruno savaged the chief fact-checker, writing, "140 to 328 thousand a year..not significant enough for DNC house organ @GlennKesslerWP. Over 100 thousand opioid deaths are probably no biggie either, right Glenbo?"

"This is the most disingenuous argument ever," declared Daily Caller managing editor Mike Bastasch. He added, "wind turbines shred eagles and other raptors, including endangered ones, while buildings kill pigeons and such. Lumping the former in with the latter is just dishonest."

"’We should 100% kill more birds because they aren't real anyway.’ – journalists," wrote conservative commentator Ian Miles Cheong, joking about the perspective of mainstream media journalists.

Conservative author Michael Caputo remarked, "Kill the cat, build the bird blender. Got it."

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Twitchy.com editor Greg Pollowitz provided a fact-check on the fact-checcker, clarifying, "Cats aren’t killing eagles and such ffs [for f---‘s sake]."

The Epoch Times’ Hans Mahncke made the same point, asking, "How many bald eagles were killed by cats last year, Glenn?"

And The Spectator contributing editor Stephen Miller offered a seemingly sarcastic, "Glenn, thank you," in response to the Washington Post journalist's supposed contribution to truth. 

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