The Dispatch Monthly Mailbag with Alex Demas

It’s our fact checker’s turn to answer your questions.

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Alex with an alpaca in the Cotswolds, England. (Photo courtesy of Alex Demas)

Dear Dispatch members,

Thank you to all who participated in last month’s Monthly Mailbag with Michael Reneau. You can click here to find Michael’s insightful responses to your questions. 

This month, Alex Demas has raised his hand to take on all of your questions. 

One of our newest hires, Alex is a fact checker at The Dispatch, and began his career in the wealth and investment management sector before pursuing a Master of Arts in political economy at King’s College London. After graduating, he interned with Jonah Goldberg at the American Enterprise Institute and covered U.K. private equity as a financial journalist before returning to Washington to join The Dispatch. In his free time, Alex enjoys watching soccer (he’s a die-hard Aston Villa fan), mixing cocktails, ice climbing, going to concerts, serving at church, and cleaning up after his two ragdoll kittens. He is very close with his family—especially his cousins and twin sister—most of whom live in Charlotte, North Carolina.

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Comments (63)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Donald E. L. Johnson, Florida

    Fact check: Democrats claim cutting $90 billion of IRS spending would cost $80 billion. I don't believe these forecasts which always are wrong when it comes to predicting how much spending on public sector union members will save money for tax payers.

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    Aylene Wright

    1. I would be interested in hearing of your transition from TD reader to employee. Were you a TD subscriber before you first worked for Jonah at AEI? Any big surprises or "this wasn't what I expected" moments once you actually clambered aboard the pirate skiff?

    2. How do you pick topics to fact-check? I assume one is reader requests, as you actively solicit them. But do you also get "assignments" from the editors? How does the Meta partnership work? Do they just assign topics to you, or is there some list of topics they circulate that you and other fact checkers can choose from?

    3. I would like to hear your best argument for your position, of fact-checker, even existing in the first place.

    Imagine TD being in a financial crisis because Steve invested too much money in a Spanish winery that went bust, and them having to make cuts, and you having to explain why the Fact Checking feature shouldn't be cut.

    For, the whole genre of fact-checking, seems to be seen by most conservatives as, at worst, merely a psy-op by the Left to discredit conservatives, or at best, a waste of time, because the most easily fact-checked claims, are obviously false anyway, and most controversial issues, are too complex to truly determine the truth value of.

    I admit that there was a point during prior incarnations of TDFC, that it just seemed to be a side project for TD to pad the bottom line through the Meta/ Facebook partnership. The topics were obviously false crazy conspiracy theories about the 2020 election, COVID vaccines, and other low-hanging fruit.

    The relative lack of promotion for TDFC even now, and the relegation of FC content to interns over the summer, and so on, does make me wonder if that's still the case.

    But, I have noticed that you've tackled much thornier issues in your tenure, that your actually started off with an abortion related topic, and covered the really controversial question of which Hamas atrocities can truly be substantiated. This gives me hope that TDFC will actually be a more useful feature going forward, that it will tackle questions actually relevant to TD readers.

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    Donald E. L. Johnson, Florida

    Alex, what did you learn about politics while you were a financial journalist and involved in the wealth management business?

    Are you a speculator, buy and hold investor or an options trader like me? I've been a financial and business journalist for about 60 years as well as the owner of a small business.

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  4. Robertrudolph95

    Has Congress' power to declare war been whittled down to responding to executive requests for money?

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  5. Philebus

    Alex...so sorry. Thanks for the fact checking you've presented - it's a bad job, but you've performed flawlessly. You have talent - you wouldn't be here otherwise. I'll present no questions. Best of good fortune.

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  6. Avatar photo
    Rdpulfer

    What's the average day as a fact-checker involve?

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  7. Jill Stewart

    Alex please explain what Political Economy is, I gather it is more 'Arts' than 'Sciences'. Does it focus on any particular theory or form of economy?

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  8. Dcarey1098

    Alex,
    How do you determine what is credible and what is uncredible in this age of confusion? People love to contort and twist information or leave valuable context out when reporting. Sometimes it is incredibly difficult for me to discern what is or what is not true and I just wanted to know how you go about doing this?
    Also, more than eager to know what is your favorite cocktail recipe?

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  9. John Matthew IV

    I just came back from two weeks in Scotland. I loved it there but everything is expensive (well maybe beer is reasonable). Prices seem so high but wages are not.

    How do they do it? Do they just make sacrifices I wouldn't see as a tourist?

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  10. Mccumberrick

    Alex,
    I was glad to hear that religion was an important part of your life. What is your church affiliation and how does that affect your view of life and your reporting?

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