Donald Trump earned 59 Four-Pinocchio ratings as a presidential candidate. Now that he’s president, he has continued his proclivity for making dubious, misleading or false statements. He also often repeats the same debunked claims even though they have been fact-checked. It’s hard to keep up with all of Trump’s rhetoric, so the Fact Checker is assembling in one place all of his suspect statements from his first 100 days as president. You can sort them by various categories and see how many times he has repeated the same false statement.
Where do the claims come from?
The greatest number of false and misleading claims were made on Twitter.
The most frequent topic of these claims is immigration, which came up 24 times. Other frequent topics are biographical record (17 claims) and jobs (17 claims).
Within the topic of immigration, the travel ban was a frequent subject of Trump’s claims during the administration’s first two weeks.
Two weeks of claims about the travel ban
In the first two weeks of his term, President Trump made 10 false or misleading claims about his executive order halting immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries.
No days without a claim
Out of the days tracked since Trump’s inauguration, there have been no days without any recorded false or misleading claims.
The list of Trump’s claims will be updated every Friday through April, with new claims made in the previous week. See any claims we’re missing? Fill out this form to send us a tip. Sign up for the Fact Checker newsletter here.
President Trump’s 132 claims since January 20th:
Show claims about made
Fact Checker analysis:
No claims match your selection
“Give the public a break - The FAKE NEWS media is trying to say that large scale immigration in Sweden is working out just beautifully. NOT!“
Trump referred to rising crime rates in Sweden, but the country's overall rate has fallen in recent years. Sweden has welcomed refugees and immigrants, but Swedish crime experts do not agree that the country's immigration policies are linked to crime.
“My statement as to what's happening in Sweden was in reference to a story that was broadcast on @FoxNews concerning immigrants & Sweden.“
Trump referred to rising crime rates in Sweden, but the country's overall rate has fallen in recent years. Sweden has welcomed refugees and immigrants, but Swedish crime experts do not agree that the country's immigration policies are linked to crime.
“The dishonest media, which has published one false story after another, with no sources, even though they pretend they have them. They make them up in many cases.”
It is unclear what stories Trump is referring to here, but mainstream news organizations do not publish articles with “no sources” and certainly do not “make them up in most cases.” That is grounds for firing. Certainly, sources can be misinformed, and respected new organizations strive to correct or update stories if a mistake has been made.
“When Thomas Jefferson said ‘nothing can be believed which is seen in a newspaper. Truth itself,’ he said, ‘becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted vehicle.’ That was June 14 — my birthday — 1807.”
Trump selectively quotes from Jefferson here, who for most of his life was a fierce defender of the need for a free press. When Jefferson wrote to 17-year-old John Novell, urging him to avoid a career in journalism, he was embittered by reports spread by his political opponents that he had slept with Sally Hemings, one of his slaves. Today, most historians now believe she was the mother of six of his children. So this is a case where “fake news” turned out to be true.
“Jobs are already starting to pour back in. They’re coming back in like you haven’t seen in a long time. Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler are bringing in and bringing back thousands of jobs, investing billions of dollars because of the new business climate that we are creating in our country.”
Repeated onFord’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Meanwhile, the January jobs report, showing 230,000 jobs were created, reflects the last month of the Obama administration. The data was collected in early January, when Obama was still president.
”I’ve taken steps to begin the construction of Keystone and the Dakota Access pipeline. Anywhere from 30,000 to 40,000 jobs.”
Repeated onTrump appears to be combining two disputed figures — 28,000 jobs for Keystone XL and 12,000 for the Dakota Access Pipeline. We have looked closely at the Keystone numbers, and the same methodological issues appear to apply to the Dakota estimates. The actual number of Keystone construction jobs, for instance, is just 3,900 on an annualized basis — and other jobs have already been created (such as for building high-strength line pipe.) In the context of the U.S. economy, which just in January added 230,000 jobs, these are not many jobs.
“They were close to signing a $4.2 billion deal to have a new Air Force One. Can you believe this? I said no way. I said I refuse to fly in a $4.2 billion airplane. I refuse.”
Trump is exaggerating here. Boeing only had a $170 million contract to begin designing a replacement for Air Force One, and the cost of the project had not been set. The Defense Department’s five-year plan indicated a cost of $2.9 billion over the next five years for design and development. It’s logical to assume at least another $1 billion in additional expenses to complete and procure the aircraft. An estimate of $4 billion — for design, testing and manufacture of at least two jets — was not completely out of line. But the budget was subject to approval by Congress and the actual design of the aircraft. So Trump taking credit for cutting a price that had not been negotiated yet.
“We’ve gotten hundreds of millions of dollars off the price of a plane that was going to be ordered.”
Repeated onTrump is referring to the Lockheed F-35 program. Again, he is taking credit for something that had already been negotiated, a claim that had previously earned him Four Pinocchios. The Pentagon had already announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump had met with Lockheed’s chief executive.
Look at what’s happening in Chicago. Hundreds of shootings. Hundreds of deaths. I’ll tell you what’s happening in Chicago and many other places.”
Repeated on“Inner cities” is not a category by which crime is measured, and Trump often uses this term to refer to large, urban cities. In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities. One outlier city -- Chicago -- was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. Overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.
“Now you know the countries we’re talking about. And these were countries picked by Obama.”
Repeated onFour countries were identified by Congress, in a bill signed by Obama, and then the Obama administration added three more. But Obama — and Democrats in Congress — wanted to require greater visa scrutiny of people who had traveled to those countries. When given a chance, the Obama administration specifically rejected the citizenship-based restrictions that Trump ordered. So there were significant differences in the approach.
“You look at what’s happening last night in Sweden. Sweden. Who would believe this? Sweden. They took in large numbers. They’re having problems like they never thought possible.”
This was a very strange comment. Nothing had happened the night before in Sweden, as Swedes quickly noted.
“We’ve allowed thousands and thousands of people into our country. And there was no way to vet those people. There was no documentation. There was no nothing.”
Repeated onThis is false. The vetting of refugees is careful and takes about two years, including FBI screening, Department of Homeland Security interviews and extensive security and background checks.
“You look at some states, [health insurance premiums in] Arizona up 116 percent.”
Trump cherry-picks data from Arizona, the state hit the hardest by 2017 premium increases under the Affordable Care Act. The average increase for the second-lowest-cost silver plan (which is used as the benchmark to calculate government subsidies) is 25 percent. A few states, such as Indiana, will actually see a decrease.
“Obamacare doesn’t work. It’s become totally unaffordable.”
Repeated onTo put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Moreover, some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market — allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“Believe me, I and we inherited one big mess. That I can tell you.”
Repeated onThe economy was in pretty good shape when Trump became president, especially compared with the economic crisis that Obama inherited in 2009. In January 2009, coinciding with the last labor report of the George W. Bush administration, nearly 800,000 jobs disappeared, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with the nearly 230,000 jobs added in January 2017. (Trump has given himself credit for the January numbers, but the data was collected when Obama still held office.)
“Look at what's happening to the stock market.”
Repeated onThis is a flip-flop for Trump. Before he was elected, he dismissed the stock-market performance under Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble."
“We're seeing companies open up factories in America. We're seeing them keep jobs at home. Ford, General Motors, Fiat Chrysler, just to name a very, very few, so many more already.”
Repeated onTrump repeatedly takes credit for business decisions unrelated to his presidency. Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Meanwhile, the January jobs report, showing 230,000 jobs were created, reflects the last month of the Obama administration. The data was collected in early January, when Obama was still president.
“A new Rasmussen poll just came out just a very short while ago, and it has our approval rating at 55 percent and going up.”
Repeated onTrump has a tendency to focus only on polls that are good for him. Rasmussen has a right-leaning bias and earns a C+ grade from FiveThirtyEight.com. Other polls show Trump with significantly lower approval ratings, such as Gallup (40 percent) and the Pew Research Center (39 percent).
This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before he was elected, he dismissed the stock-market performance under Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble."
“Plants and factories are already starting to move back into the United States, and big league — Ford, General Motors, so many of them.”
Repeated onTrump keeps giving himself credit for business decisions made before he became president. Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Here’s what Ford chief executive Mark Fields said about the company’s decision to abandon plans to open a factory in Mexico: “The reason that we are not building the new plant, the primary reason, is just demand has gone down for small cars.”
“To be honest, I inherited a mess. It’s a mess. At home and abroad, a mess.”
Repeated onTrump indicated he was backing up this statement by noting that “jobs are pouring out of the country. ... The Middle East is a disaster. North Korea.” The state of foreign policy is open to interpretation — Trump claimed he was developing “a plan for the defeat of ISIS,” the terrorist group in Iraq and Syria. But the economy was in pretty good shape when Trump became president, especially compared with the economic crisis that Obama inherited in 2009. In January 2009, coinciding with the last labor report of the George W. Bush administration, nearly 800,000 jobs disappeared, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with the nearly 230,000 jobs added in January 2017. (Trump has given himself credit for the January numbers, but the data was collected when Obama still held office.)
“We got 306 [electoral college votes] because people came out and voted like they’ve never seen before, so that’s the way it goes. I guess it was the biggest electoral college win since Ronald Reagan.”
Repeated onTrump was wrong on the size of his electoral college win. Of the nine presidential elections since 1984, Trump’s electoral college win ranks seventh. When a reporter pointed out his error, Trump first indicated that he was talking about Republican candidates. But George H.W. Bush received 426 electoral votes in 1988. Trump’s response: “I don’t know; I was given that information.”
”We've ordered a crackdown on sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal law and that harbor criminal aliens, and we have ordered an end to the policy of catch and release on the border. ... We are saving American lives every single day.”
Repeated onThere is limited research on the impact of sanctuary policies and crime. And the research that does exist challenges Trump’s claim. There’s no official definition of “sanctuary,” but it generally refers to rules restricting state and local governments from alerting federal authorities about people who may be in the country illegally. A handful of studies looked at whether there is a causation between sanctuary cities and crime. They either found no statistically significant impact of sanctuary policies on crime, or a reduction in crime due to immigrant-friendly policing strategies.
“In fact, we had to go quicker than we thought because of the bad decision we received from a circuit that has been overturned at a record number. I have heard 80 percent.”
Trump is referring to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, which ruled against reinstating his travel ban. But there are other ways to slice the data, and it’s important to put this number into context. Most cases reviewed by the Supreme Court are reversed, and the 9th Circuit rules on more cases in general. The 9th Circuit’s reversal rate was usually higher than the average, but not always the highest. None of the data supports Trump’s contention that the court is “in chaos” and “in turmoil.”
“We have also taken steps to begin construction of the Keystone Pipeline and Dakota Access Pipelines. Thousands and thousands of jobs, and put new buy-American measures in place to require American steel for American pipelines.”
Repeated onTrump, in saying “thousands and thousands of jobs,” leaves himself some wiggle room here. (He’d previously incorrectly said 28,000 jobs.) Moreover, some of these jobs have already been created. Workers in Arkansas, for instance, have already built about half of the high-strength line pipe needed for the project, some 333,000 tons.
“You [the media] have a lower approval rate than Congress. I think that’s right.”
Trump indicated that he wasn’t sure if this assertion is correct. It is not. The public’s trust in the media has certainly fallen over the years. But a 2016 Gallup poll shows that Congress is viewed positively by 9 percent of respondents, compared with 20 percent for newspapers and 21 percent for television. That’s not a high confidence level — besides Congress, only “big business” ranks lower than the media — but it’s enough to make Trump’s claim incorrect.
“When WikiLeaks, which I had nothing to do with, comes out and happens to give, they’re not giving classified information.”
WikiLeaks actually released hundreds of thousands of classified State Department cables, in a significant blow to U.S. diplomacy.
“Nobody mentions that Hillary received the questions to the debates.”
Trump overstates the disclosure about Clinton reportedly getting a single debate question. During the Democratic primaries, a debate was held in Flint, Mich., to focus on the water crisis. Donna Brazile, then a CNN analyst, sent an email to the Clinton campaign saying that a woman with a rash from lead poisoning was going to ask what Clinton as president could do the help the people of Flint. There’s no indication Clinton was told this information, but in any case it’s a pretty obvious question for a debate being held in Flint.
“You know, they say I’m close to Russia. Hillary Clinton gave away 20 percent of the uranium in the United States. She’s close to Russia.”
Trump’s claim suggests the State Department had sole approval authority on a uranium rights deal with a company largely owned by Russia’s nuclear energy agency. But the State Department is one of nine agencies in the Committee on Foreign Investments in the United States to vet and sign off on all U.S. transactions involving foreign governments. As we’ve noted before, there is no evidence Clinton herself got involved in the deal personally, and it is highly questionable that this deal even rose to the level of the secretary of state. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission also needed to approve, and did approve, the transfer.
“We had a very smooth rollout of the travel ban. But we had a bad court. Got a bad decision.”
Trump appears to have forgotten that imprecise wording in the executive order led to confusion over whether U.S. permanent residents — green-card holders — were also banned from returning to the United States. The White House counsel later issued guidance making clear that they were not covered. The Court of Appeals later said that the counsel’s statement was not a sufficient fix.
“Russia is a ruse. I have nothing to do with Russia. Haven’t made a phone call to Russia in years. Don’t speak to people from Russia.”
Repeated onTrump met with the Russian ambassador before an April 2016 speech, according to news reports. He's being misleading when he says he has "nothing to do with Russia." Trump repeatedly sought deals in Russia. In 1987, he went to Moscow to find a site for a luxury hotel; no deal emerged. In 1996, he sought to build a condominium complex in Russia; that also did not succeed. In 2005, Trump signed a one-year deal with a New York development company to explore a Trump Tower in Moscow, but the effort fizzled.
“You go to some of these inner city places and it’s so sad when you look at the crime. You have people — and I’ve seen this, and I’ve sort of witnessed it — in fact, in two cases I have actually witnessed it. They lock themselves into apartments, petrified to even leave, in the middle of the day. They’re living in hell.”
Repeated on“Inner cities” is not a category by which crime is measured, and Trump often uses this term to refer to large, urban cities. In 2016, there was an uptick in the homicide rate in the 30 largest cities. One outlier city -- Chicago -- was responsible for 43.7 percent of the total increase in homicide rates in 2016. Overall, violent crime is on a decades-long decline, since the height of the crack cocaine epidemic in the early 1990s.
“Leaking, and even illegal classified leaking, has been a big problem in Washington for years. Failing @nytimes (and others) must apologize!”
Repeated onThis is a flip-flop for Trump. Before becoming president, Trump heartily endorsed WikiLeaks and the release of classified information, particularly about his then-rival Hillary Clinton. During a July 2016 news conference, Trump even called on Russia to hack Clinton’s email account. Now, facing information leaks out of his own administration (including information that led to the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn), Trump decided it’s a bad thing.
“The spotlight has finally been put on the low-life leakers! They will be caught!”
This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before becoming president, Trump heartily endorsed WikiLeaks and the release of classified information, particularly about his then-rival Hillary Clinton. During a July 2016 news conference, Trump even called on Russia to hack Clinton’s email account. Now, facing information leaks out of his own administration (including information that led to the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn), Trump decided it’s a bad thing.
“Stock market hits new high with longest winning streak in decades. Great level of confidence and optimism - even before tax plan rollout!”
Repeated onThis is a flip-flop for Trump. Before he was elected, he dismissed the stock-market performance under Obama as “artificial” and “a bubble."
“I will say that I never get phone calls from the media. How did they write a story like that in the Wall Street Journal without asking me or how did they write a story in the New York Times, put it on the front page?”
It is false that these newspapers did not call for comment.
“That’s the other thing that was wrong with the travel ban. You had Delta with a massive problem with their computer system at the airports.”
Repeated onTrump’s order, signed on the evening of Friday, Jan. 27, sparked delays, confusion and protests in airports that night and throughout the weekend. Delta’s computer glitch on the night of Sunday, Jan. 29, led to cancellations that night and into Monday morning — days after the first protests and delays due to Trump’s order.
“We've begun preparing to repeal and replace Obamacare. Obamacare is a disaster, folks. It is a disaster.”
Repeated onTo put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Moreover, some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market — allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“If U.C. Berkeley does not allow free speech and practices violence on innocent people with a different point of view - NO FEDERAL FUNDS?”
“Iran was on its last legs and ready to collapse until the U.S. came along and gave it a life-line in the form of the Iran Deal: $150 billion”
Repeated onTrump always uses too high an estimate, $150 billion, and makes it sound like the United States cut a check to Iran. But this was always Iran’s money. Iran had billions of dollars in assets that were frozen in foreign banks around the globe because of international sanctions over its nuclear program. The Treasury Department estimated that once Iran fulfilled other obligations, it would have about $55 billion left. The Central Bank of Iran said the number was actually $32 billion. And it's a stretch to say Iran was "ready to collapse.”
“Smart! ⬇️ 'Kuwait issues its own Trump-esque visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries | Al Bawaba'”
Repeated onThis story was posted on Trump's Facebook account, but it turned out to be fake news. Kuwait “categorically denies these claims,” the country’s foreign ministry said. Trump’s Facebook post has not been taken down.
“I love Australia as a country, but we had a problem where for whatever reason, President Obama said that they were going to take probably well over 1,000 illegal immigrants who were in prisons, and they were going to bring them and take them into this country. And I just said, ‘Why?’…1,250. It could be 2,000, it could be more than that.”
Repeated onTrump is referring to the estimated 1,250 refugees and asylum-seekers that the United States, under Obama, agreed to accept from an Australian detention center. Refugees and asylum-seekers who arrive illegally by boat in Australia are called “illegal maritime arrivals.” They can apply for two types of temporary visas, and some may qualify to apply for permanent residency.
“So what’s going on with autism? When you look at the tremendous increases, really, it’s such an incredible -- it’s like really a horrible thing to watch, the tremendous amount of increase.”
There’s not enough research and no medical consensus to determine whether autism is on the rise. The 2016 rates were consistent with the last published rate in 2014. The rate has gotten worse since 2000, but it's unclear how much of that is due to greater awareness, early detection, and the expansion of disorders included on the autism spectrum.
“The real story here is why are there so many illegal leaks coming out of Washington? Will these leaks be happening as I deal on N.Korea etc?”
This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before becoming president, Trump heartily endorsed WikiLeaks and the release of classified information, particularly about his then-rival Hillary Clinton. During a July 2016 news conference, Trump even called on Russia to hack Clinton’s email account. Now, facing information leaks out of his own administration (including information that led to the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn), Trump decided it’s a bad thing.
“We really have done a great job. We’re actually taking people that are criminals — very, very, hardened criminals in some cases with a tremendous track record of abuse and problems — and we’re getting them out and that’s what I said I would do.“
Repeated onICE has always targeted dangerous criminals in enforcement priorities. The recent arrests Trump is referring to did include people who would not have fallen under Obama’s narrower enforcement priorities. But such people — comprising 25 percent of the arrests — had lesser charges and noncriminal convictions and are not the “very, very hardened criminals” that Trump describes.
“The crackdown on illegal criminals is merely the keeping of my campaign promise. Gang members, drug dealers & others are being removed!”
Repeated onTrump is referring to the recent arrests of undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes (“criminal aliens”). Trump takes credit for fulfilling his campaign promise of cracking down on illegal immigration, but these arrests are routine. ICE has always targeted dangerous criminals in enforcement priorities. The recent arrests, however, did include people who would not have fallen under narrowed enforcement priorities under Obama. Still, 25 percent of the arrests were of people who had lesser charges and noncriminal convictions and are not the gang members or drug dealers that he describes.
“While on FAKE NEWS @CNN, Bernie Sanders was cut off for using the term fake news to describe the network. They said technical difficulties!”
This is not true. In an interview with Erin Burnett, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made a joke about Trump labeling CNN as “fake news.” After he made the joke, the audio cut off, and CNN cut to a commercial. Upon returning from the commercial, Burnett picked up where they left: “Senator, you were just talking — joking — about CNN, fake news.” Then Sanders went on to criticize Trump’s labeling of CNN as “fake news.”
“I am so proud of my daughter Ivanka. To be abused and treated so badly by the media, and to still hold her head so high, is truly wonderful!“
Trump exaggerates by saying that Ivanka Trump was "abused and treated so badly by the media." His tweet was referring to news coverage about Nordstrom dropping her brand. There was no evidence that Nordstrom acted out of political considerations, or that news coverage attacked Ivanka Trump over the news. The company has maintained for months (including in internal emails) that it will base its decisions on sales performance. Internal records reviewed by the Wall Street Journal show the sales of Ivanka Trump's brand fell 32 percent at Nordstrom last fiscal year.
”We've had Ford and General Motors and many, many others, Intel, yesterday made a major announcement and they did that because of what is happening with our tax structure which is going along very well."
Repeated onTrump keeps giving himself credit for business decisions made before he became president. Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than with the administration. Here’s what Ford chief executive Mark Fields said about the company’s decision to abandon plans to open a factory in Mexico: “The reason that we are not building the new plant, the primary reason, is just demand has gone down for small cars.”
“We're also working very much, and this has a lot to do with business, on health care, where we can get great health care for our country at a much-reduced price both to the people receiving the health care and to our country because our country is paying so much, and Obamacare as you know, is a total and complete disaster.”
Repeated onTo put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Moreover, some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market — allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“We never even kept a small, just even a little tiny oil well; not one little well. I said keep the oil.”
Repeated onIn 2015, Iraq produced about 4 million barrels a day, enough crude oil to fill more than 700 Trump Towers. Securing all of the oil, including in northern Iraq where the Islamic State exists, would require a military force larger than the one that invaded Iraq in 2003. It would also be considered a war crime.
“We've spent $6 trillion -- think of it -- as of about two months ago; $6 trillion in the Middle East. We've got nothing.”
Repeated onTrump is lumping together the wars in Iraq (in the Middle East) and Afghanistan (in South Asia), which together cost about $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014. He is also adding in estimates of future spending, such as interest on the debt and veterans' care for the next three decades.
“Ford is going to build -- you know, they canceled a big plant in a certain place, I won't say where -- a $2 billion plant. And they're building it in the United States, and they're expanding greatly.”
Repeated onTrump takes credit for Ford’s decision to abandon its plans to open a factory in Mexico and instead expand its Michigan plant. But analysts say Ford’s decision has more to do with the company’s long-term goal — particularly, its plans to invest in electric vehicles — than the administration. It’s easier for companies to find highly skilled workers to build new products, such as electric cars, in the United States than in Mexico.
“Sen.Richard Blumenthal, who never fought in Vietnam when he said for years he had (major lie),now misrepresents what Judge Gorsuch told him?”
Trump is wrong that the Connecticut Democrat had misrepresented Gorsuch’s remarks. Blumenthal’s account was immediately confirmed by Ron Bonjean, a member of the group guiding the judge through his confirmation process on behalf of the Trump administration.
“Chris Cuomo, in his interview with Sen. Blumenthal, never asked him about his long-term lie about his brave ”service" in Vietnam. FAKE NEWS!"
Cuomo’s first question to Blumenthal was: “What is your response to the president of the United States saying you should not be believed because you misrepresented your military record in the past?” Blumenthal ducked the question, but contrary to Trump’s tweet, the issue was raised.
“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person -- always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!”
There is no evidence that Nordstrom acted out of political considerations. The company has maintained for months (including in internal emails) that it will base its decisions on sales performance. Internal records reviewed by the Wall Street Journal show the sales of Ivanka Trump's brand fell 32 percent at Nordstrom last fiscal year.
“The murder rate in our country's the highest it's been in 47 years, right? Did you know that -- 47 years? I'd say that in a speech and everybody's surprised. Because the press doesn't tell it like it is. It wasn't to their advantage to say that.”
Trump often gets this statistic wrong. In 2015, there was the biggest percentage jump in a single year since 1970-1971, or 45 years ago. It was not the highest rate in 45 or 47 years. Overall, the rate of homicides and violent crimes are back down to the levels they were 45 years ago, and are at about half the rates at their peak in the 1980s and early 1990s.
“Years of getting approvals, nobody showed up to fight it, this company spends tremendous - hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars - and then all of a sudden people show up to fight it.”
As the Toronto Star's Daniel Dale notes, there were protests against the pipeline before it was granted approvals.
“I don't know Putin, have no deals in Russia, and the haters are going crazy - yet Obama can make a deal with Iran, #1 in terror, no problem!”
Repeated onTrump now claims he doesn’t know Russian President Vladimir Putin, but in the past, he had claimed he had spoken to him. Trump’s assertion he has “no deals in Russia” is misleading at best, since Trump has actively pursued deals there and has relied on Russia investors. As for the nuclear agreement with Iran, that agreement was forged with the assistance of diplomats from the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, Russia and the European Union. Obama did not negotiate it alone.
“It is a disgrace that my full Cabinet is still not in place, the longest such delay in the history of our country. Obstruction by Democrats!”
This is false. Bill Clinton did not have a cabinet in place until March 11, George H.W. Bush had to wait till March 17 and Obama did not get a full cabinet until April 28. Trump would have grounds to complain that at this point he has fewer Cabinet members confirmed than his predecessors. While Democrats have put up roadblocks, part of the reason for the delay is because paperwork has been slow in coming from some of Trump’s wealthier nominees.
“I have already saved more than $700 million when I got involved in the negotiation on the F-35. You know about that.”
Repeated onTrump takes credit for the lowered cost, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive.
“You've seen what happened in Paris and Nice. All over Europe it's happening. It's gotten to a point where it's not even being reported. And in many cases, the very, very dishonest press doesn't want to report it. They have their reasons, and you understand that.”
The press is reporting these cases. The White House later clarified to say Trump was referring to attacks that were underreported.
“We've already given them [Iran] billions and billions, probably $150 billion.”
Repeated onTrump always uses too high an estimate, $150 billion, and makes it sound like the United States cut a check to Iran. But this was always Iran’s money. Iran had billions of dollars in assets that were frozen in foreign banks around the globe because of international sanctions over its nuclear program. The Treasury Department estimated that once Iran fulfilled other obligations, it would have about $55 billion left. The Central Bank of Iran said the number was actually $32 billion.
“The previous administration allowed it to happen. Because we shouldn't have been in Iraq, but we shouldn't have gotten out the way we got out. It created a vacuum. ISIS was formed.”
This is false and facile. The terrorist group is the direct result of the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, which Trump had supported. The civil war that started in Syria in 2011 breathed new life into what had become a moribund organization. The conflict in Syria created a perfect vacuum in terms of governance, and so the civil war became an opportunity for the restoration of the organization. ISIS then saw opportunity to rebound in Iraq. One factor was the withdrawal of U.S. troops. But there was also rampant mismanagement by the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, which greatly degraded the Iraqi military and exacerbated tensions between Sunnis and Shiites.
“Any negative polls are fake news, just like the CNN, ABC, NBC polls in the election. Sorry, people want border security and extreme vetting.”
Repeated onThis odd tweet appeared aimed at reassuring Trump supporters after polls from CBS News, CNN/ORC, Gallup and Quinnipiac University showed majorities of Americans opposed to the order and its provisions. (Other polls indicated support for Trump’s order.) In the 2016 presidential election, while polls played down Trump’s chances of winning the electoral college, most nationwide polls actually were close to mark. The RealClearPolitics average showed Clinton ahead by 2.1 percentage points — exactly the margin she achieved in her popular-vote victory.
“The failing @nytimes was forced to apologize to its subscribers for the poor reporting it did on my election win. Now they are worse!”
Repeated onThe Times did not apologize to its subscribers for its coverage of Trump. Both the Times and The Post have seen spikes in audience and subscribers.
“You had 109 people out of hundreds of thousands of travelers and all we did was vet those people very, very carefully. ... It was 109 people.”
Repeated onTrump’s figures on the scope of the travel ban were ludicrously low. The universe of people likely affected by the travel suspension was around 60,000, according to the State Department — not 109. The White House later admitted the 109 figure reflected only the number of people who were affected by the ban and were in-flight at the time the order was signed
“We gave them $1.7 billion in cash, which is unheard of. And we put the money up, and we have really nothing to show for it.”
The payment was connected to a $1.7 billion settlement of claims with Iran announced by the State Department, in which $400 million was always Iran’s money. (The rest was negiotiated interest.) In the 1970s, the then-pro-Western Iranian government under the shah paid $400 million for U.S. military equipment. But the equipment was never delivered because the two countries broke off relations after the seizure of American hostages at the U.S. Embassy in Iran. Trump says the United States has nothing to show for it, but the money was transferred on the same day four Americans being held in Iran were released, though the Obama administration denied there was any connection.
“I'm very much opposed to sanctuary cities. They breed crime. There's a lot of problems.”
Repeated onThere is limited research on the impact of sanctuary policies and crime. And the research that does exist challenges Trump’s claim. There’s no official definition of “sanctuary,” but it generally refers to rules restricting state and local governments from alerting federal authorities about people who may be in the country illegally. A handful of studies looked at whether there is a causation between sanctuary cities and crime. They either found no statistically significant impact of sanctuary policies on crime, or a reduction in crime due to immigrant-friendly policing strategies.
On 3 million illegal immigrants voting: “Well, many people have come out and said I am right, you know that."
Repeated onThis is a fantasy, worthy of Four Pinocchios. Trump is obsessed with how he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, and so he keeps making this claim even though there is no evidence to support it.
“I've been against the war in Iraq from the beginning.”
False. There is zero evidence of his early opposition to the invasion.
“After being forced to apologize for its bad and inaccurate coverage of me after winning the election, the FAKE NEWS @nytimes is still lost!”
Repeated onThe Times did not apologize to its subscribers for its coverage of Trump. Both the Times and The Post have seen spikes in audience and subscribers.
“Interesting that certain Middle-Eastern countries agree with the ban. They know if certain people are allowed in it's death & destruction!”
Repeated onTrump appears to referring to a news story he posted on his Facebook account — that Kuwait had issued “its own Trump-esque visa ban for five Muslim-majority countries.” Trump added: “Smart!” But it turned out this was fake news. Kuwait “categorically denies these claims,” the country’s foreign ministry said. Trump’s Facebook post has not been taken down.
“What is our country coming to when a judge can halt a Homeland Security travel ban and anyone, even with bad intentions, can come into U.S.?”
Trump tweeted a number of critical comments about the “so-called judge” who halted the president’s travel ban of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. The judiciary was established in the U.S. Constitution as a third branch of government (along with the executive and legislative branches), part of the complex system of checks and balances that ensures the continuation of democracy. Marbury v. Madison, a Supreme Court case decided more than 200 years ago, helped establish the notion of judicial review and cemented the notion that the judiciary was equal in power to the president and Congress.
“Because the ban was lifted by a judge, many very bad and dangerous people may be pouring into our country. A terrible decision”
There is little evidence that the ruling halting Trump’s order has allowed “very bad and dangerous people” to pour into the country. The practical effect of the order was to restore visas and refugee admissions. Being accepted as a refugee in the United States is a difficult, lengthy process. Obtaining a U.S. visa generally requires an in-person interview, unless you are a citizen of one of 38 countries that participate in the visa-waiver program. Under a 2015 law, however, four of the seven countries covered in the ban require even dual citizens to have an in-person interview.
“Professional anarchists, thugs and paid protesters are proving the point of the millions of people who voted to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Trump seems to be citing a segment of Sean Hannity’s show, during which Hannity questioned whether there was a paid effort to galvanize protesters showing up at airports in the wake of Trump’s immigration executive order. But there’s no evidence there were paid protesters at airports. There were reports that a group called “Demand Protest” was paying people to protest against Trump on the day of his inauguration, but Snopes.com debunked that claim.
“We expect to be cutting a lot out of Dodd-Frank because frankly, I have so many people, friends of mine that had nice businesses. They can't borrow money. They just can't get any money because the banks just won't let them borrow it because of the rules and regulations in Dodd-Frank.”
If Trump were just talking about all business loans, his statement would be wrong. Commercial lending is at record highs. The picture is murkier if he were referring only to small businesses, as the White House claims. Trump specifically mentioned the “rules and regulations” of Dodd-Frank. The law was not intended to target community banks, and it carved out many exemptions. But regulatory oversight appears to have become tougher, so a case could be made that the post-Dodd-Frank regulatory environment made it harder for community banks to make small-business loans.
“Countries charge U.S. companies taxes or tariffs while the U.S. charges them nothing or little.We should charge them SAME as they charge us!”
Many countries — but not the United States — have a value-added tax, in which tax is collected at each stage in the production or distribution of a product or service. But with refunds, the burden is really paid by the final consumer. Moreover, the VAT also affects domestic producers. In terms of tariffs, it is incorrect the United States charges “nothing or little.” The United States imposes tariffs on Chinese goods, but they are not as high as Chinese tariffs on U.S. goods.
“The January employment report shows that the private sector added 237,000 jobs last month. A lot of that has to do with the spirit our country now has.”
Trump gives himself credit for the January numbers, but the data was collected when Obama still held office.
“Everybody is arguing whether or not it is a BAN. Call it what you want, it is about keeping bad people (with bad intentions) out of country!”
Trump and his administration have quibbled with the news media’s use of the word “ban” to describe the executive order. But Trump himself called it a ban.
“If you remember, I wasn’t going to do well with the African American community, and after they heard me speaking and talking about the inner city and lots of other things, we ended up getting — I won’t go into details — but we ended up getting substantially more than other candidates who had run in the past years. And now we’re going to take that to new levels.”
Trump got 8 percent of the African American vote versus 6 percent for Mitt Romney in 2012 and 4 percent for John McCain in 2008. But Romney and McCain were running against the first African American candidate, Obama. Strictly by the numbers, Trump actually did worse among blacks than any Republican running against a white man, though in effect he came close to tying George W. Bush in 2000 and Ronald Reagan in 1984.
“Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!”
Repeated onTrump is referring to the estimated 1,250 (not “thousands”) refugees and asylum-seekers that the United States, under Obama, agreed to accept from an Australian detention center. Refugees and asylum-seekers who arrive illegally by boat in Australia are called “illegal maritime arrivals.” They can apply for two types of temporary visas, and some may qualify to apply for permanent residency.
“Overregulation costs our economy an estimated $2 trillion a year, which is incredible -- $2 trillion -- and it costs your businesses a lot of money, tremendous amounts of money and time.”
Trump presents an unbalanced figure. Various organizations have come up with similar estimates on the cost of regulations. But there is an important element missing in the use of this somewhat sketchy figure — the benefit side of the analysis. Every regulation has costs — but also benefits.
“The real scandal here is that classified information is illegally given out by ”intelligence" like candy. Very un-American!"
This is a flip-flop for Trump. Before becoming president, Trump heartily endorsed WikiLeaks and the release of classified information, particularly about his then-rival Hillary Clinton. During a July 2016 news conference, Trump even called on Russia to hack Clinton’s email account. Now, facing information leaks out of his own administration (including information that led to the resignation of national security adviser Michael Flynn), Trump decided it’s a bad thing.
“Information is being illegally given to the failing @nytimes & @washingtonpost by the intelligence community (NSA and FBI?).Just like Russia”
Actually, The Post is doing great. The Times, like The Post, has seen spikes in audience and subscribers.
“Every other country lives on devaluation.You look at what China's doing, you look at what Japan has done over the years. They -- they play the money market, they play the devaluation market, and we sit there like a bunch of dummies.”
His rhetoric is way out of date. Not only is the United States not being hurt by China’s current currency manipulation, China is also not devaluing its currency anymore. In fact, China is selling foreign currency to prop up its own, in an effort to prevent the yuan from depreciating further and destabilizing the Chinese and global economy.
“Only 109 people out of 325,000 were detained and held for questioning. Big problems at airports were caused by Delta computer outage,..... protesters and the tears of Senator Schumer. Secretary Kelly said that all is going well with very few problems. MAKE AMERICA SAFE AGAIN!”
Repeated onThe Trump White House’s figures on the scope of the travel ban were ludicrously low. The universe of people likely affected by the travel suspension was around 60,000, according to the State Department — not 109. The White House later admitted the 109 figure reflected only the number of people who were affected by the ban and were in-flight at the time the order was signed.
“But we cut approximately $600 million off the F-35 fighter, and that only amounts to 90 planes out of close to 3,000 planes. And when you think about $600 million, it was announced by Marillyn, who's very talented, the head of Lockheed Martin.”
Repeated onTrump takes credit for the lowered cost, but the Pentagon had announced cost reductions of roughly $600 million before Trump began meeting with Lockheed Martin’s chief executive.
“If the ban were announced with a one week notice, the 'bad' would rush into our country during that week. A lot of bad 'dudes' out there!”
It typically takes weeks or months to get a tourist visa to enter the United States. It certainly would take months for “bad guys,” presumably with records that would take longer for background checks, to receive a tourist visa.
“My policy is similar to what President Obama did in 2011 when he banned visas for refugees from Iraq for six months.”
This was a facile claim, as there were many differences. Obama responded to an actual threat — the discovery that two Iraqi refugees had been implicated in bombmaking in Iraq that had targeted U.S. troops. Second, Obama did not announce a ban on visa applications -- and in fact never banned visas in the first place. Third, Obama’s policy did not prevent all citizens of that country, including green-card holders, from traveling to the United States.
“The seven countries named in the Executive Order are the same countries previously identified by the Obama administration as sources of terror.”
Repeated onFour countries were identified by Congress, in a bill signed by Obama, and then the Obama administration added three more. But Obama — and Democrats in Congress — wanted to require greater visa scrutiny of people who had traveled to those countries. When given a chance, the Obama administration specifically rejected the citizenship-based restrictions that Trump ordered. So there were significant differences in the approach.
”Thr coverage about me in the @nytimes and the @washingtonpost gas been so false and angry that the times actually apologized to its..... ...dwindling subscribers and readers.They got me wrong right from the beginning and still have not changed course, and never will. DISHONEST"
Repeated onThe New York Times did not apologize to its subscribers for its coverage of Trump. Both the Times and The Post have seen spikes in audience and subscribers. (The Post announced at the end of 2016 that it is “profitable and growing.”)
“They’ve been horribly treated. Do you know if you were a Christian in Syria, it was impossible, at least very tough, to get into the United States? If you were a Muslim, you could come in, but if you were a Christian, it was almost impossible, and the reason that was so unfair, everybody was persecuted in all fairness, but they were chopping off the heads of everybody but more so the Christians. And I thought it was very, very unfair.”
Trump goes too far to claim that it is “very tough” for Syrian Christians to become refugees in the United States and that they have been “horribly treated.” While it is correct that a relatively small percentage of Syrian refugees have been admitted, the experience of Iraqi refugees is exactly the opposite, even though the same U.N. agency handles the refugee requests. The basic fact is that no one fully understands why there is such a disparity, though it appears connected to the roots the Syrians have with Lebanon.
“The Cuban Americans — I got 84 percent of that vote, and they voted in big numbers.”
Trump received 54 percent of the vote in Florida, according to National Election Pool exit poll data. (There is no national poll since two-thirds of eligible Cuban voters live in Florida.)
“I remember hearing [when I was young] from one of my instructors, ‘The United States has never lost a war.’ And then, after that, it’s like we haven’t won anything. We don’t win anymore.”
This is debatable. At the very least, one might count the 1990-1991 Persian Gulf War and the end of the Cold War as victories for the United States.
“I have a running war with the media. They are among the most dishonest human beings on Earth. And they sort of made it sound like I had a feud with the intelligence community.”
The media simply reported what Trump said about the intelligence community. On Dec. 9, when The Washington Post reported that intelligence officials had concluded that Russia had sought to undermine Hillary Clinton in the election, the Trump team issued a statement: “These are the same people that said Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.” After information leaked that Trump had been briefed that an unverified dossier alleged Russia had embarrassing information about him, Trump lashed out at the intelligence agencies and asked, “Are we living in Nazi Germany?”
“I looked out, the field was — it looked like a million, million and a half people….The rest of the 20-block area, all the way back to the Washington Monument, was packed.”
Repeated onSpeaking to employees at the CIA, Trump complained about news coverage showing his inauguration crowd was smaller than Barack Obama’s crowd in 2009. Trump’s crowd did not go all the way to the Washington Monument. No matter how you calculate it, Trump’s crowd was significantly smaller than Obama’s crowd — and the Women’s March on Washington the next day.
“We have the all-time record in the history of Time magazine. … I’ve been on it for 15 times this year.”
Trump has been on the cover of Time magazine a total of 11 times. Richard Nixon holds the record: 55. Depending on whether you count small photographs, Hillary Clinton has been on the cover between 22 and 31 times.
“I just signed two executive orders that will save thousands of lives, millions of jobs, and billions and billions of dollars.”
Trump lauded two executive actions regarding immigration and border security, including building a wall along the border of Mexico. The numbers appear to have little basis in reality. Just building the wall is estimated to cost as much as $25 billion -- before annual maintenance costs.
“Before we go any further, I want to recognize the ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] and Border Patrol officers in this room today and to honor their service and not just because they unanimously endorsed me for president.”
The unions for ICE agents and Border Patrol officers did endorse Trump in the 2016 campaign. But they did not do so unanimously. The National Border Patrol Council endorsement was based just on the vote of 11 union leaders, which sparked controversy among union members. Agents in El Paso, in a 14-to-13 vote, narrowly failed to have the local union disavow the endorsement.
“We ended up winning by a massive amount, 306. I needed 270. We got 306.”
Repeated onTrump’s electoral college margin was relatively narrow by historical standards. He ranks 46th out of 58 elections. A switch of about 40,000 votes in three states would have swung the election to Clinton.
“Then he’s groveling again. You know I always talk about the reporters that grovel when they want to write something that you want to hear but not necessarily millions of people want to hear or have to hear.”
Trump attacked the author of a 2012 Pew Center on the States report for saying his report did not back up Trump’s claims of voter fraud. Trump suggested the researcher had changed his tune, but when the report was issued, the author repeatedly explained it did not reflect voter fraud.
“Of those [allegedly illegal] votes cast, none of ’em come to me. None of ’em come to me. They would all be for the other side…They all voted for Hillary.”
Not only is there no evidence of massive voter fraud, but there is also no way Trump could possibly know this.
“They say I had the biggest crowd in the history of inaugural speeches…we had the biggest audience in the history of inaugural speeches.”
Repeated onCrowd estimates are difficult, but attendance for Trump’s speech appears to be at least 80 percent smaller than Obama’s 2009 swearing-in, 70 percent smaller than Lyndon B. Johnson’s inauguration and 60 percent smaller than Obama’s second inauguration in 2013. In terms of TV viewership, Trump ranks fifth, far behind Reagan. Even online estimates don’t boost him to “biggest audience.”
“When President Obama was there [Chicago] two weeks ago making a speech, very nice speech, two people were shot and killed during his speech.”
This is wrong. No one was shot and killed in Chicago that day, according to the Chicago Police Department. Four shootings occurred that day, with a total of six people shot, but no one died.
“We should’ve taken the oil. And if we took the oil, you wouldn’t have ISIS. And we would have had wealth.”
Repeated onIn 2015, Iraq produced about 4 million barrels a day, enough crude oil to fill more than 700 Trump Towers. Securing all of the oil, including in northern Iraq where the Islamic State exists, would require a military force larger than the one that invaded Iraq in 2003. It would also be considered a war crime.
“We have spent as of one month ago $6 trillion in the Middle East.”
Repeated onTrump is lumping together the wars in Iraq (in the Middle East) and Afghanistan (in South Asia), which together cost about $1.6 trillion from 2001 to 2014. He is also adding in estimates of future spending, such as interest on the debt and veterans' care for the next three decades.
“You had millions of people that now aren’t insured anymore.”
In attacking the Affordable Care Act, Trump repeats a Four-Pinocchio whopper. Some 20 million people have gained health coverage because of the law. About 2 million people were told their old plans no longer qualified under the law, but after an uproar, most received waivers that kept the plans going until the end of 2017. In any case, anyone whose plan was terminated could buy new insurance.
“Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton (D) said Obamacare 'is no longer affordable,' and Bill said ‘Obamacare is crazy.' ”
Trump takes both comments out of context and twists their meaning. Dayton faulted Republicans for refusing to adjust the law, which he said made insurance “no longer affordable to increasing numbers of people.” Bill Clinton’s remark about a “crazy system” referred to the fact that people who did not qualify for insurance subsidies did not have a way to buy into Medicare or Medicaid.
“No, no, you have to understand, I had a tremendous victory, one of the great victories ever. In terms of counties I think the most ever, or just about the most ever.”
Trump's electoral college victory was relatively narrow, ranking 46th out of 58 electoral college results. He also lost the popular vote by 2.1 percentage points. The focus on winning counties is misleading, as Clinton won the counties with the most people, which is why she had such a commanding popular-vote margin.
“Obamacare is a disaster. It's too expensive. It's horrible health care. It doesn't cover what you have to cover.”
Repeated onTo put it in context, the number of people affected by premium increases is just one-fourteenth the size of the employment-based health-insurance market. Moreover, some of the initial steps taken by the Trump administration have helped worsen the problems in the individual insurance market — allowing Trump to create a self-fulfilling prophecy.
“This is on the Keystone pipeline…A lot of jobs, 28,000 jobs. Great construction jobs.”
Repeated onIn contrast to Obama, who always played down the number of jobs that would be created by the Keystone XL Pipeline, Trump inflated the numbers. The project would create part-year work in four states for 10,400 workers, the State Department determined. That added up to 3,900 annual construction jobs. About 12,000 other annual jobs would stem from direct spending on the project. So that adds up to 16,000, most of which are not construction jobs. (This statement earned Three Pinocchios.)
“If Chicago doesn’t fix the horrible ‘carnage’ going on, 228 shootings in 2017 with 42 killings (up 24% from 2016), I will send in the Feds!”
The percentage is accurate, per Chicago police. But with only one month of data in 2017, it’s too early to use that statistic to call it “carnage.” Trump also said he would “send in the feds,” although federal agencies already work with Chicago police.
“I’m a very big person when it comes to the environment. I have received awards on the environment.”
There is little evidence that Trump received awards for the environment. The White House pointed us to a self-published book by Trump’s former environmental consultant. The only award mentioned in that book was from the New Jersey Audubon Society — but the group denied it ever gave an award to Trump, the Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster or any of its employees.
This is clearly a made-up figure. As of the end of 2015, there were nearly 180,000 pages in the code of federal regulations. So, in theory, that means getting it down to 45,000 pages. There were 71,000 pages back in 1975. Even under Ronald Reagan, the number of pages climbed almost 20 percent.
“Between 3 million and 5 million illegal votes caused me to lose the popular vote.”
Repeated onThis is a fantasy, worthy of Four Pinocchios. Trump is obsessed with how he lost the popular vote by nearly 3 million votes, and so he keeps making this claim even though there is no evidence to support it.
“Had a great meeting at CIA Headquarters yesterday, packed house, paid great respect to Wall, long standing ovations, amazing people. WIN!”
Repeated onTrump appeared to be responding to criticism of his heavily political speech in front of the CIA’s memorial wall. He claimed to have received standing ovations, but he never invited the employees to take a seat. So they remained standing the whole time.
“Wow, television ratings just out: 31 million people watched the Inauguration, 11 million more than the very good ratings from 4 years ago!”
Repeated onActually, Obama’s ratings in 2009 were 7 million people higher than Trump’s numbers. Second-term inaugurals tend to get lower ratings, so Trump is cherry-picking the comparison.
“Washington flourished, but the people did not share in its wealth. Politicians prospered, but the jobs left, and the factories closed.”
The suburbs around Washington are among the richest in the United States, largely because of the federal government (which attracts people with college or advanced degrees). Among the 25 most populous metropolitan areas, the D.C. metro area has the highest median income in the nation -- $93,294 versus a U.S. median of $55,775 -- though growth has slowed in recent years, in part because of reductions in defense spending. Indeed, income in the D.C. area has grown essentially at the same rate as the rest of the nation since 2006, including a dip in median income during the Great Recession. But there is no empirical evidence that the D.C. area got rich off the rest of the country, as Trump suggests.
“You came by the tens of millions to become part of a historic movement, the likes of which the world has never seen before.”
Trump is a minority president, in terms of the popular vote. He lost the popular vote by nearly 2.9 million votes to Hillary Clinton. Trump’s electoral college win, meanwhile, was a squeaker. Trump had narrow victories in three key states (and narrow losses in two others).
“Mothers and children trapped in poverty in our inner cities … and the crime and the gangs and the drugs that have stolen too many lives and robbed our country of so much unrealized potential. This American carnage stops right here and stops right now.”
In 2015, 13 percent of people lived below poverty level inside metropolitan statistical areas. That is on par with the national poverty rate in 2015 (13.5 percent). Overall, the poverty rate has remained relatively flat under Obama. Violent and property crimes overall have been declining for about two decades and are far below rates seen one or two decades ago.
“For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry; subsidized the armies of other countries, while allowing for the very sad depletion of our military.”
Trump mixes up several things here. He seems to be referring to free-trade agreements in the first part of his sentence, though he ignores the fact that many U.S. industries also benefit and grow when they are able to sell products overseas. The cost of maintaining foreign bases is a mere pittance of the $500 billion defense budget. And foreign military aid requires that the funds be spent on U.S. hardware, creating jobs for Americans.
“[We’ve] spent trillions and trillions of dollars overseas while America’s infrastructure has fallen into disrepair and decay. We’ve made other countries rich, while the wealth, strength and confidence of our country has dissipated over the horizon.”
Trump continues to attack companies that ship jobs overseas and has promised to keep jobs in the United States. But Trump has had a long history of outsourcing a variety of his products as a businessman, and he has acknowledged doing so.
“One by one, the factories shuttered and left our shores, with not even a thought about the millions and millions of American workers that were left behind. The wealth of our middle class has been ripped from their homes and then redistributed all across the world.”
Trump engages in hyperbole, attributing all of the decline in manufacturing to foreign trade. Some economists calculate 1 million to 2 million jobs were lost after China was admitted to the World Trade Organization in 2000. But economists say they believe the biggest factor in the decline in manufacturing is automation, not jobs going overseas. Another factor is decreased consumer spending on manufactured goods. A new report by the Congressional Research Service notes that “employment in manufacturing has fallen in most major manufacturing countries over the past quarter-century,” so the U.S. experience is not unusual.
“We must protect our borders from the ravages of other countries making our products, stealing our companies and destroying our jobs.”
Trump attacks companies that ship jobs overseas, and has promised to keep jobs in the United States. But this is inconsistent with his long history of outsourcing products as a businessman. We know of at least 12 countries where Trump products were manufactured. Further, Trump products transited other countries through the packaging and shipping process — meaning that workers in more than 12 countries contributed to getting many of Trump’s products made, packaged and delivered to the United States.
“We will get our people off of welfare and back to work, rebuilding our country with American hands and American labor.”
Repeated on“Welfare” is a broad term and can apply to people who are working but receiving government assistance. If someone is receiving means-tested assistance, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not working.
“Even the media said the crowd was massive … that was all the way back down to the Washington Monument.”
Repeated onSpeaking to employees at the CIA, Trump complained about news coverage showing his inauguration crowd was smaller than Obama’s crowd in 2009. Trump’s crowd did not go all the way to the Washington Monument. No matter how you calculate it, Trump’s crowd was significantly smaller than Obama’s crowd — and the Women’s March on Washington the next day.
“NAFTA has been a terrible deal, a total disaster for the United States from its inception, costing us as much as $60 billion a year with Mexico alone in trade deficits.”
The trade-deficit number is close to correct, but Trump apparently does not understand the meaning of “trade deficit.” He often suggests this money could be used to pay for his planned wall along the southern border. But that’s nonsensical. A trade deficit only means that people in one country are buying more goods from another country than people in the second country are buying from the first country. No money passes from government to government.
“We want to get our people off of welfare and back to work. So important. It’s out of control. It’s out of control.”
Repeated on“Welfare” is a broad term and can apply to people who are working but receiving government assistance. If someone is receiving means-tested assistance, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are not working.
“Here in Philadelphia, the murder rate has been steady — I mean just terribly increasing.“
This is wrong. Murders have declined significantly in Philadelphia over the past decade, from 397 in 2007 to 277 in 2016; the number has been below 300 for four straight years in a city that neared 500 in 1990. The number of violent crimes, property crimes and robberies are lower than they've been in at least four decades.
“We’ve taken in tens of thousands of people. We know nothing about them. They can say they vet them. They didn’t vet them. They have no papers. How can you vet somebody when you don’t know anything about them and you have no papers?”
Repeated onTrump often claims there is “no system to vet” refugees. The process actually takes two more years, after vetting that starts with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and then continues with checks by U.S. intelligence and security agencies. (Our colleagues at PolitiFact did a good look at this process.)
“And the audience was standing ovation. They actually -- they were standing from the beginning. They didn't even sit down. It was one standing ovation.”
Repeated onTrump appeared to be responding to criticism of his heavily political speech in front of the CIA’s memorial wall. He claimed to have received standing ovations, but he never invited the employees to take a seat. So they remained standing the whole time.
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