The Trump presidency has been unusual and infuriating for a lot of reasons, but one of the most baffling has been his and his administration’s total lack of interest in facts. From straight-up lies and inaccuracies to coining the term “alternative facts,” they just don’t care about reality. And why should they? The media rarely holds them accountable for their doublespeak untruths in any way that actually matters. Do you remember how maddening it was to watch the election debates or campaign interviews and hear Trump spew his outright lies, then see the moderators just move on?

MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid has now proven that it is possible to hold Trump and his spokespeople accountable for their statements, and to do so in real time. And yes, it’s just as satisfying as you’d imagine.

Leading up to today’s hotly anticipated indictments, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation dominated this weekend’s news. Well, unless you were watching Fox News.

Paul Manafort just agreed to turn himself in to the FBI. What should we report on?

CNN: Manafort

MSNBC: Manafort

Fox News: Hamburger emoji pic.twitter.com/Wjsvkb2coW — Roberto Ferdman (@robferdman) October 30, 2017

Trump (and, by extension, Fox) instead attempted to shift the focus to, among other things, Hillary Clinton’s supposed involvement in President Obama’s 2010 Uranium One deal, in which a Russian energy company bought a controlling stake in a Toronto-based uranium company.

Never seen such Republican ANGER & UNITY as I have concerning the lack of investigation on Clinton made Fake Dossier (now $12,000,000?),…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017

…the Uranium to Russia deal, the 33,000 plus deleted Emails, the Comey fix and so much more. Instead they look at phony Trump/Russia,…. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 29, 2017

In addition to being an obvious deflection from the investigation into his own administration, this story is utter bullshit. Hillary Clinton had no involvement in the Uranium One deal. This was a transaction between a private company and a foreign government. The closest this deal got to Clinton was when it was reviewed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, of which she is not and was not a member, meaning she never got close to it at all. Also, Trump loves to scare the public by throwing out the word “nuclear,” while omitting the subsequent word “power.”

Basically, Trump is trying to convince us that Hillary Clinton gave away 20% of our country’s uranium supply so that Russia could make bombs. Not one part of that is true, but it’s the kind of blatantly false claim that the media so often has trouble shutting down.

When talking to Jen Kerns, a former GOP spokesperson and contributor for the conservative Washington Examiner, Reid had no such trouble. I’ve never had such a strong reaction to basic fact-checking, but this clip is making me feel all warm inside.

Have you ever seen Wolf Blitzer do this? Brian Williams? pic.twitter.com/qqBxg3EDir — Jay Rosen (@jayrosen_nyu) October 29, 2017

“I want to ask you a couple fact-based questions” is my new favorite phrase in the English language.

What makes this extra maddening is that Kerns has all the information Reid asks for. She knows that her talking points are misleading; she’s obviously just hoping she doesn’t get called on her BS. These people are lying to us, plain and simple, and we need more Joy-Ann Reids in the world, letting them know we see their lies for what they are, and we won’t stand for it.

(image: screencap, MSNBC)

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