Written from 32 named sources · Sep 29 · first result Knuckles Fact-Check: Ruthless Podcast, Sept 24, 2026 First timestamp read: [0:00]. Last timestamp read: [54:00]. Note on coverage: the supplied caption file ends mid sentence at [54:00] and does not include the Stay ruthless sign off. All context below is evaluated strictly as of September 24, 2026. SECTION 1: SUMMARY This report checked three claims graded WRONG and one claim graded RIGHT from the September 24, 2026 episode. The biggest miss was the statement that Joe Biden was the only candidate on the ballot in the Michigan 2024 Democratic presidential primary, when Dean Phillips and Marianne Williamson were also printed on the ballot. A second miss placed the 2017 congressional baseball shooting in Louisiana and described Senator John Boozman as a physician. A third miss described a national 150 million dollar ad reservation as dedicated solely to Texas. The RIGHT finding confirms that Ann Richards lost her reelection as Texas governor to George W. Bush. SECTION 2: CLAIM EVALUATIONS Entry 1. Biggest miss first. Timestamp: [17:01] Speaker: Michael Duncan. Quoted clue and timestamp: At [17:01] a co host asks, quote, What what can I just start with Michael here, and Michael Duncan then answers beginning, quote, Well, as um a learned um comms pro Ashbrook. What was said: Quote, Remember, famously in the Michigan um primary, there was a huge uncommitted cohort in that primary, even though Joe Biden was, you know, the only candidate on the on the ballot. Context: The hosts were discussing the 2024 Michigan Democratic primary uncommitted protest vote and a clip of Abdul El-Sayed being questioned about it. Grade: WRONG What is actually true: The February 27, 2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary ballot listed Joe Biden, Representative Dean Phillips, and Marianne Williamson as candidates, and voters could also select uncommitted [20]. Biden received about 81 percent, uncommitted received about 13 percent, Williamson received about 3 percent, and Phillips received about 2.7 percent [4]. Source 1: Associated Press, AP Decision Notes: What to expect in Michigans presidential primary. Quote: Quote, The candidates on the Democratic ballot are Biden, Phillips and former candidate Marianne Williamson [20]. Source 2: CBS News Detroit, Michigan presidential primary 2024: Heres the list of candidates. Quote: Quote, Joe Biden is on the list as he seeks a second term, along with two other Democrats, Dean Philips and Marianne Williamson [21]. Anything to confirm in the video: Confirm at [17:01] that Michael Duncan is on camera delivering the only candidate line. Entry 2. Timestamp: [21:07] Speaker: UNCONFIRMED. Check video from [20:04] to [22:03]. No host is addressed by name immediately before or after this passage in the transcript and the speaker does not self identify in the transcript text. What was said: Quote, or or like Rand Paul who famously was like saving lives when a Bernie bro was shooting Republicans in Louisiana. Like, we you know, we all grew up with Dr. Booani or Dr. Coburn. Context: The hosts were discussing Abdul El-Sayed describing his medical background and comparing him to past doctors in Congress. The transcript spelling Booani refers to Senator John Boozman. Grade: WRONG What is actually true: The June 14, 2017 shooting during practice for the Congressional Baseball Game occurred at a park in Alexandria, Virginia, across the Potomac River from Washington, not in Louisiana [22][24]. Senator Rand Paul said he was helpless and unable to help the injured, while Representative Brad Wenstrup attended to Representative Steve Scalise [24]. Senator John Boozman is an optometrist by training, not a physician, and his official biography describes his optometry degree and eye care practice [26]. Source 1: Associated Press, Rifle-wielding attacker wounds GOP leader, killed by police. Quote: Quote, Colleagues said Scalise had been fielding balls at second base at a local park in Alexandria, just across the Potomac River from the nations capital [22]. Source 2: NDTV, In Virginia, Top Republican Shot, Others Injured In Shooting At Congressional Baseball Practice, via syndicated reporting. Quote: Quote, The third-highest ranked House Republican and at least four others were injured Wednesday morning in a shooting at a congressional baseball practice field in the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, witnesses and police officials said [24]. Additional direct source on profession: Official Biography of U.S. Senator John Boozman. Quote: Quote, He graduated from the Southern College of Optometry in 1977 and entered private practice that same year co-founding a family business with his brother that would ultimately become a major provider of eye care to Northwest Arkansas [26]. Anything to confirm in the video: Review [20:04] to [22:03] to identify which host speaks the passage beginning Also, Id like to just, and to confirm the pronunciation of Booani as Boozman. Entry 3. Timestamp: [29:01] Speaker: Josh Holmes. Quoted clue and timestamp: At [31:04] a co host says, quote, And and you know to Holmess point about his soft name ID, which matches the [29:01] speaker statement that, quote, He has a very soft name ID. What was said: Quote, But now theres like a 150 million that is being dedicated towards telling you exactly who this guy is. Context: The hosts were discussing the Texas U.S. Senate race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico and newly launched attack advertising. Grade: WRONG What is actually true: The 150 million dollar figure was a national reservation across competitive House and Senate races in the closing weeks, not an amount dedicated solely to Texas or to Talarico [19][27]. In Texas, pro Paxton reservations for September totaled more than 94 million dollars, compared with about 20 million dollars supporting Talarico in the same period [27]. A separate report stated that Texas PAC would add more than 35 million dollars in Texas, bringing its Texas total to more than 100 million dollars [28]. Source 1: WVXU and NPR, Republican cavalry arrives with a Trump-backed 150 million ad blitz in key races. Quote: Quote, All told, pro-Paxton ad reservations for the month of September add up to more than $94 million, enough to swamp the roughly $20 million supporting Talarico in the same timeframe [27]. Source 2: Political Wire, Republicans Begin Major Onslaught for Ken Paxton, quoting Punchbowl News. Quote: Quote, Texas PAC, the Senate Republican leadership-backed super PAC supporting Ken Paxtons Senate bid, will add more than $35 million to their television reservations in the Lone Star State, bringing their total spend to more than $100 million there [28]. Anything to confirm in the video: Confirm at [29:01] that Josh Holmes delivers the 150 million line and confirm the ad visual played at [30:05]. Entry 4. Timestamp: [47:04] Speaker: Michael Duncan. Quoted clue and timestamp: At [47:04] Josh Holmes asks, quote, Duncan, whats whats the last time we lost it, and Duncan answers immediately after. What was said: Quote, Annne Richards last governor before George George W. Bush. Context: The hosts were discussing how long it had been since Republicans lost a statewide race in Texas, in light of 2026 Senate polling. This entry grades only the Richards clause. The separate Lloyd Bentsen Senate remark in the same passage is not graded here. Grade: RIGHT What is actually true: Ann Richards served as governor of Texas and was defeated for reelection by George W. Bush in the 1994 election [30]. Source 1: The Texas Politics Project, University of Texas at Austin, Governors of Texas: Ann Richards. Quote: Quote, After she was defeated for re-election by George W. Bush in the 1994 election, Richards continued to be a prominent figure in Texas politics [30]. Source 2: Not required for RIGHT under the governing standard. Anything to confirm in the video: Confirm that Michael Duncan delivers this answer to Holmes at [47:04]. SECTION 3: DROPPED CLAIMS Claim: Quote, there has been only one of those two people who have ever carried the state of Michigan. It was not Kamala Harris. Timestamp: [18:02]. Reason dropped: Ambiguous and partly true depending on metric, since Harris was on the winning 2020 ticket as vice presidential nominee but lost Michigan as presidential nominee in 2024, so no clean binary grade is possible. Claim: Quote, six straight consecutive cycles, an oversampling of Democrats in a very meaningful way in the month of September. Timestamp: [37:02]. Reason dropped: Opinion about polling methodology and hedged with I think, not a clean verifiable fact. Claim: Abdul El-Sayed lacking a valid state medical license in New York or Michigan. Timestamp: [21:07] to [22:03]. Reason dropped: Spoken by journalist Mehdi Hasan inside a played clip, not by a host. Claim: Abdul El-Sayed claiming to be the first Democratic doctor elected in nearly 50 years. Timestamp: [21:07]. Reason dropped: Host immediately noted the Democrats qualifier in the same block, so it does not count against the hosts. Claim: Lloyd Bentsen was probably the last Democratic senator from Texas. Timestamp: [47:04]. Reason dropped: Compound remark with probably hedge and no second direct source meeting the definitive standard, so excluded while the Richards clause was graded separately. Claim: 33 percent of Democrats have a positive view of removing President Trump through assassination, attributed to the Center for Strategic Politics. Timestamp: [54:00]. Reason dropped: The supplied transcript ends mid sentence at this point, so the full claim and attribution could not be verified. Sponsor reads including Guard Your Card at [1:07], American Commitment at [2:06], and Coalition to Strengthen Americas Healthcare at [28:04]. Reason dropped: Commercial advertising is excluded from editorial fact checking. SECTION 4: METHOD Claims were selected by reading the supplied transcript from the first visible block through the truncation point and keeping only direct host assertions that could be graded cleanly, while excluding opinion, predictions, jokes, clip speech, sponsor reads, and private life matters. Each included claim was checked against sources actually opened and quoted word for word, with context judged as knowable on September 24, 2026. Grades are limited to RIGHT or WRONG only, with two independent reputable sources required for every WRONG and with uncertain or partly right claims dropped. Sources [4] Michigan Democratic presidential primary election results 2024 The Washington Post — https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/results/2024/02/27/michigan-president-democratic-primary [19] ijpr.org — https://www.ijpr.org/npr-news/2026-09-18/republican-cavalry-arrives-with-a-trump-backed-150-million-ad-blitz-in-key-races [20] apnews.com — https://apnews.com/article/michigan-primary-1147200d96f45858f06023416e64efaf [21] cbsnews.com — https://www.cbsnews.com/detroit/news/michigan-presidential-primary-2024-heres-the-list-of-candidates/ [22] apnews.com — https://apnews.com/article/3e84732a7d594eedba6fae5dd10808b7 [24] ndtv.com — https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/top-republican-shot-others-injured-in-shooting-at-congressional-baseball-practice-1712338 [26] senate.gov — https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/biography [27] wvxu.org — https://www.wvxu.org/news-from-npr/2026-09-18/republican-cavalry-arrives-with-a-trump-backed-150-million-ad-blitz-in-key-races [28] politicalwire.com — https://politicalwire.com/2026/09/22/republicans-begin-major-onslaught-for-ken-paxton/ [30] utexas.edu — https://texaspolitics.utexas.edu/archive/html/exec/governors/31.html senate.gov — https://www.boozman.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2026/5/boozman-honored-with-lifetime-of-excellence-award-for-service-to-optometry-and-vision-care James Talarico says he’s raised $27 million in first three months of 2026, part of Democratic fundraising surge CNN Politics — https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/15/politics/talarico-democrats-senate-fundraising James Talarico says he’s raised $27 million in first three months of 2026, part of Democratic fundraising surge CNN Politics — http://www.cnn.com/2026/04/15/politics/talarico-democrats-senate-fundraising Michigan Democratic Primary Election 2024 Live Results: Biden Wins - The New York Times — https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/02/27/us/elections/results-michigan-democratic-presidential-primary.html theguardian.com — https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/14/republican-baseball-shooting-virginia-what-happened 2024 Michigan Democratic presidential primary - Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Michigan_Democratic_presidential_primary Assessing the impact of the 'uncommitted' vote in Michigan — https://wdet.org/2024/02/29/assessing-the-impact-of-the-uncommitted-vote-in-michigan James Talarico reports $27 million haul in Q1 2026: fuels Democratic money surge - ECIKS.org — https://eciks.org/2952-james-talarico-reports-27-million-haul-in-q1-2026-fuels-democratic-money-surge Presidential election in Michigan, 2024 - Ballotpedia — https://ballotpedia.org/Presidential_election_in_Michigan,_2024 texasarchive.org — https://texasarchive.org/2016_02116 wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Michigan_Democratic_presidential_primary wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_baseball_shooting wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Boozman wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_United_States_presidential_election_in_Michigan wikipedia.org — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_United_States_presidential_election_in_Michigan 2024 Michigan Primary: Live Democratic Presidential Results and Maps — https://www.detroitnews.com/elections/results/2024-02-27/primaries/democratic/michigan 2024 Michigan Primary: Live Democratic Presidential Results and Maps — https://www.freep.com/elections/results/2024-02-27/primaries/democratic/michigan James Talarico says he’s raised $27 million in first three months of 2026, part of Democratic fundraising surge - KTVZ — https://ktvz.com/politics/cnn-us-politics/2026/04/15/talarico-raises-27-million-in-first-quarter-as-senate-democrats-announce-strong-fundraising-numbers James Talarico Shatters Fundraising Record With $27 Million Quarter - Texas Politics — https://texaspolitics.com/2026/04/16/james-talarico-shatters-fundraising-record-with-27-million-quarter James Talarico Tops $30 Million as Ken Paxton Faces Fundraising Gap in Texas Senate Race — https://www.thecoffmanchronicle.com/p/james-talarico-tops-30-million-as Live Results: 2024 Michigan Democratic Presidential Primary People's Pundit Daily — https://www.peoplespunditdaily.com/elections/live-results-2024-michigan-democratic-presidential-primary Senate Candidate James Talarico Reports Eye-Popping Fundraising Haul - But We've Seen This From Democrats Before — https://www.westernjournal.com/senate-candidate-james-talarico-reports-eye-popping-fundraising-haul-seen-democrats