Politics, history and the people who made it
Izabela Trascu edits Reality Check, the Today on Politics section that sets popular political claims against the documented record. Izabela traces each myth to its source, checks it against primary documents and court records, and notes plainly when historians disagree.
49 stories
Checked against Treasury and CRS data, foreign aid makes up under 1% of the U.S. budget. Learn the facts behind 8 pervasive foreign assistance myths.
Learn the critical differences between the federal deficit and national debt using official September 30 fiscal year-end data and budget history.
Understand how political polls and margins of error actually work. Explore sampling math, demographic weighting, and historical accuracy benchmarks.
Discover 10 facts about the Social Security Act of 1935, how FICA taxes fund benefits, and what the 2026 wage cap means…
Discover 7 myths about Medicare and Medicaid checked against the 1965 Social Security Amendments, trust fund rules, and modern health care laws.
Separate fact from fiction with verified Labor Department data on federal minimum wage demographics, tipped wages, purchasing power, and worker exemptions.
Discover how Title IX reshaped federal education funding beyond athletics, from university admissions and STEM research grants to faculty tenure rights.
Explore 8 common myths about executive orders debunked by the Federal Register, historical archives, and Supreme Court precedent under the Youngstown doctrine.
Discover 9 documented facts about how the 1924 Immigration Act established national quotas, reshaped consular visas, and altered American border law.
Debunk 6 major myths about diplomatic immunity, embassy soil sovereignty, and federal accountability under U.S. law and the Vienna Convention.
