Senator Ted Cruz speaks at the George H.W. Bush Commemorative Center in Midland, Texas for a campaign stop Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2018. (Mark Rogers/Odessa American via AP)

The Washington Post’s resident fact checker Glenn Kessler thought it would be a cool thing to take a gratuitous swipe at President Trump by comparing what Trump said at the State of the Union in February about the unemployment rate to the country’s economic downturn in the midst of the Wuhan coronavirus crisis.

In a series of tweets, Kessler noted Trump’s remarks about the low unemployment rate at the time “did not age well” when you look at the situation on the ground now:

As we noted in our fact check at the time: "This is worth fact-checking because the average over three years is hardly comparable to a four- or eight-year average for other presidents." Imagine what the average will end up by the conclusion of Trump's term.

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) April 4, 2020

It’s also an example of how it’s foolhardy for any president to brag about the state of the economy on their watch. They have little to do with broad economic trends, good or bad.

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) April 4, 2020

It was a really bad look, especially when you consider that the mainstream media were among the biggest cheerleaders for governors implementing shelter in place orders and other drastic measures related to trying to keep “non-essential” workers at home in order to flatten the curve, measures which forced businesses to drastically cut hours and lay off employees, or shut down completely.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) took note of Kessler’s bizarre victory lap on the issue of job losses and lowered the boom:

The press HATED that, three months ago, we had the lowest African-American & Hispanic unemployment ever recorded. Now that we’re in the midst of a global pandemic—which originated in Wuhan, not the Oval Office—too many in the press are giddy with glee. #RootForAmerica https://t.co/JGb5mgHanT

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 5, 2020

When Kessler tried to claim he wasn’t gleeful, Cruz turned the tables on him by giving him four Pinocchios:

Fact check: Four Pinocchios. 🤥 🤥 🤥 🤥 https://t.co/cxl1gs2RZZ

— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) April 5, 2020

Heh. Spot on.

Yours truly took Kessler to the woodshed on this, too, after reading his tweets Saturday night:

Seriously? The media implores people to stay at home and be content with no longer having a job as we weather this storm, slams governors who don't follow along, and now that same media dunks on Trump for the unemployment rate? Disgusting. https://t.co/jw18GtR8zU

— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) April 4, 2020

This is more of an example of horse sh*t from "journalists" like yourself who put politicians in positions of damned if they do and damned if they don't. https://t.co/LCtKm15on5

— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) April 4, 2020

Its a "silly point" for you to make now. We're in the middle of a pandemic, and you're dunking on the unemployment rate because Orange Man Bad. Get a clue. https://t.co/25cS2Immoe

— Sister Toldjah 😁 (@sistertoldjah) April 4, 2020

Was I a little mad? No, I was a lot mad, because just hours before that I had done an analysis of how Kessler frequently retweets left wing claims about the Trump administration’s handling of the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak without checking to see if they’re accurate first.

In the cases I examined, they weren’t. What that told me is that Kessler is using his platform as a supposedly objective fact checker to uncritically pass along information from left wing sources that is … at best misleading, and at worst not true at all.

Coupled with the unnecessary, sometimes deceptive dunks on Trump, and the error-filled fact checks against other Trump figures, Kessler’s actions represent the antithesis of how a dedicated fact checker should operate, but it’s what we’ve come to expect from him, sadly.