Armies of fact-checkers massed around the State of the Union Address, seeking to evacuate truth from the encroaching rhetorical perils of Donald Trump. We'll now see if they'll slowed the perilous advance of his exaggerations and outright falsehoods.

As Trump spoke for nearly 90 minutes, with Vice President Mike Pence and House Speaker Paul Ryan sitting behind him and serving as the traditional nodding bobbleheads, a notable partnership of The Washington Post, PolitiFact and FaceCheck.org combined for a running dissection of Trump statements.

What's called FactStream was under the aegis of the Duke University Reporters' Lab. As if one needed to underscore the challenge it and other fact-checkers face, one right-leaning site had already preemptively inveighed against "Liberal Foundations Behind State of the Union Fact-Checking."

At 8:18 p.m. came this from the truth-seekers: "Donald Trump: "Since the election, we have created 2.4 million new jobs." Then, "Our Quick Take: In Trump's first 11 months, employment increased by 1.84 million---12% lower than the 2 million jobs that were created the previous 11 months."

At 8:22: "Donald Trump: We enacted the biggest tax cuts and reform in American history." Then, "Our Quick Take: It is not the biggest tax cut. It is the 8th largest cut since 1918 as a percentage of gross domestic product, and the 4th largest in inflation-adjusted dollars."

In obvious ways, the hour-long instant analysis was remarkable in its speed and sophisticated concision. I thought back to sitting in the House of Representatives for many State of the Unions, in the balcony above the rostrum, a paper copy of speech in hand, jotting notes in margins, underlining phrases, sticking question marks here and there. And waiting to make calls later at the office, perhaps assisted by an Associated Press analysis of certain claims.

Now a confluence of forces—most accelerated by Trump's pugilistic battle with veracity—prompts new systems melding journalists and technology. There's no need to wait hours until morning newspaper editions, or initial wire service stories. Cadres of single-minded analysts are in place, unleashed on every presidential declaration.

For sure, this was never likely to be a Trumpian atrocity, and it was not. Dozens in the White House and across multiple cabinet departments typically vet the State of the Union Address. The new armies will be better off dissecting spontaneous Trump tweets and interviews in coming days, as underscored in the eviscerations by Stephen Colbert and others of his most recent unbridled interview, in Davos, Switzerland, with bombastic British talk host Piers Morgan.

“This speech was way too pre-filtered for fact-checking to play an important early role in its analysis. MSNBC did a fact check segment at 8:50 pm. They make a few good points, but they’re not really helpful in assessing the speech,” said Bruno Cohen, a retired broadcast network executive who ran major network stations.

“Trump’s writers managed to keep him on task—i.e. reach for some form of unity. The truly divisive stuff was minimized. Only a short mention of the wall. No attacks on the press. But, of course, he couldn’t help himself—and so we get the lines like standing for the National Anthem.”

But there remained grist for the new candor-driven mills now personified by the rollout of FactStream. Had Trump eliminated, as he claimed, more regulations in just a year than any administration in history? Well, not necessarily.

Have three million workers received tax cut bonuses? Yes, “with most getting $1,000 or less,” said the Duke trio. That construction (as opposed to perhaps saying “nearly $1,000”) might prompt an inference that it constitutes small potatoes. Many Americans, if not the same elite journalists who by and large missed the partly economics-driven unrest propelling Trump's stunning election victory, would surely dispute that.