Tag: falsehoods

Trump Tweets ‘That’s Politics!’ About Son’s Meeting With Russian Lawyer

The following article by Maggie Haberman was posted on the New York Times website July 17, 2017:

WASHINGTON — He ran on a promise to end politics as usual.

But on Monday morning, President Trump posted a defense on Twitter of his son’s meeting with a Russian lawyer promising sensitive government information that could be damaging to Hillary Clinton by saying that it was simply politics as usual.

In Mr. Trump’s newest tweet about his eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and a meeting on June 9, 2016, at Trump Tower, he described the gathering as routine and something almost anyone in politics would have wanted to attend. Continue reading “Trump Tweets ‘That’s Politics!’ About Son’s Meeting With Russian Lawyer”

What Trump got wrong on Twitter this week (#8)

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on the Washington Post website April 21, 2017:

It’s been more than a month since our last roundup of what the president got wrong on Twitter in a given week, an occasional Friday series at The Fact Checker. President Trump has been tweeting less frequently, and his tweets have become more ceremonial — simply sharing photos or videos of memorable events or commemorating a holiday.

But in the past week, Trump tweeted misleading or false claims about several issues that were worth delving into. Here’s a look at what Trump got wrong in 10 tweets since last Friday. Continue reading “What Trump got wrong on Twitter this week (#8)”

Trump’s claim that ‘no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days’

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website April 20, 2017:


President Trump falsely claimed that “no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days,” during a speech in Wisconsin on April 18. The Post’s Fact Checker found that other presidents, most notably Franklin D. Roosevelt, accomplished more than he has so far. (The Washington Post)

“No administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days.”

— President Trump, remarks in Kenosha, Wis., April 18, 2017 Continue reading “Trump’s claim that ‘no administration has accomplished more in the first 90 days’”

Donald Trump flubs how unemployment is calculated

The following article by Louis Jacobson was posted on the Politifact website April 4, 2017:

“When you look for a job, you can’t find it and you give up. You are now considered statistically employed.”

— Donald Trump on Tuesday, April 4th, 2017 in a CEO town hall

At a town hall with CEOs, President Donald Trump revived some of his longstanding concerns about how the nation’s unemployment statistics are calculated.

Appearing to reference the number of Americans out of work, Trump said, “We have 100 million people if you look. You know, the real number’s not 4.6 percent (for the unemployment rate). They told me I had 4.6 percent last month. I’m doing great. I said yeah, but what about the hundred million people? A lot of those people came out and voted for me. I call them the forgotten man, the forgotten woman. But a lot of those people — a good percentage of them would like to have jobs and they don’t. You know, one of the statistics that, to me, is just ridiculous — so, the 4.6 sounds good. But when you look for a job, you can’t find it and you give up. You are now considered statistically employed. But I don’t consider those people employed.” Continue reading “Donald Trump flubs how unemployment is calculated”

Fact-checking the Trumpian spin on ‘surveillance of Trump’

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website April 4, 2017:

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post

The Trump White House is determined to turn questions about Russian efforts to sway the presidential election into a probe about whether the Obama administration improperly spied on Trump campaign officials. This line of attack is consistent with President Trump’s March 4 tweets falsely claiming that President Barack Obama tapped his phones at the Trump Tower during the election.

On April 3, Trump seized on a three-day-old report recycled on Fox News — that a “very senior” intelligence official “unmasked,” or exposed, the names of people affiliated with the Trump team — to insist that should be the real focus on the Russia probe. This is entirely different from Trump’s original claim about phone taps during the election, but the White House often acts as if it is similar. Continue reading “Fact-checking the Trumpian spin on ‘surveillance of Trump’”

Why Trump lies

The following article by the Los Angeles Times Editorial Board was posted on their website April 3, 2017:

Donald Trump did not invent the lie and is not even its master. Lies have oozed out of the White House for more than two centuries and out of politicians’ mouths — out of all people’s mouths — likely as long as there has been human speech.

But amid all those lies, told to ourselves and to one another in order to amass power, woo lovers, hurt enemies and shield ourselves against the often glaring discomfort of reality, humanity has always had an abiding respect for truth. Continue reading “Why Trump lies”

Can President Trump Handle the Truth?

The following article by Michael Scherer was posted on the Time Magazine website March 23, 2017:

Generations of American children have learned the apocryphal tale of young George Washington, bravely admitting to his father that he chopped down the cherry tree. The story sprang from a culture that wanted even its fables to serve the ideal of truth. By that standard, the House Intelligence Committee hearing on March 20 should have been a massive humiliation for the President, who followed Washington 228 years later. It is rare for such hearings to be unclassified–and thus televised–but FBI Director James Comey found the largest possible audience for his rebuke of the sitting President.

He had given Donald Trump nearly three weeks to walk back his incendiary tweets accusing President Obama of “wire tapping” Trump Tower during the campaign. If such surveillance had been done through legal channels, the FBI would have known; if done illegally, it was a scandal of historic proportions and the FBI should be digging into it. Either way, Trump’s accusation implicated the integrity of Comey’s bureau, which is why the former prosecutor felt compelled to push back as the cameras rolled. “I have no information that supports those tweets,” Comey said. “We have looked carefully inside the FBI. The Department of Justice has asked me to share with you that the answer is the same.” Continue reading “Can President Trump Handle the Truth?”

Trump’s Lies Are No Laughing Matter For The Press

The following article by Eric Boehlert was posted on the National Memo website March 14, 2017:

Appearing at the annual Radio and Television News Correspondents Association dinner in March 2004, just as his reelection campaign was gearing up, President George W. Bush continued the black-tie evening’s tradition and set aside some moments in his address to poke fun at himself.

The punchline that year: Bush couldn’t find Saddam Hussein’s weapons of the mass destruction; the WMDs that had served as the rationale for launching the invasion of Iraq one year earlier.

As the lights at the Washington Hilton ballroom dimmed, Bush narrated a “White House Election-Year Album,” and photos flashed on the screen behind him. One slide showed Bush in the Oval Office, searching under a piece of furniture. “Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be here somewhere,” he told the audience. The slideshow continued with him checking different parts of his office. “Nope, no weapons over there,” he said, “Maybe under here.” Continue reading “Trump’s Lies Are No Laughing Matter For The Press”

The Daily 202: Trump team taking more and more credit for Obama successes

The following article by James Hohmann was posted on the Washington Post website March 10, 2017:

President Trump greets FirstCapital Bank of Texas Chairman Kenneth Burgess, Jr., during a meeting with leaders from small community banks in the Roosevelt Room at the White House yesterday. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

THE BIG IDEA: While Donald Trump accuses his predecessor of wiretapping his office and prods Congress to eviscerate his signature domestic achievement, he also demands credit for Obama administration victories that he had nothing or little to do with.

— The Bureau for Labor Statistics announced this morning that the U.S. added 235,000 jobs in February, bringing the unemployment rate down to 4.7 percent and likely giving the Federal Reserve the green light to raise interest rates next week. Continue reading “The Daily 202: Trump team taking more and more credit for Obama successes”

The Daily 202: Wiretapping allegations accomplished what Trump wanted – but may backfire bigly

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanna Deppisch was posted on the Washington Post website March 6, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: It is easy to pooh-pooh Donald Trump’s predawn Saturday tweetstorm — accusing Barack Obama of the worst political crimes since Watergate while offering no evidence — as an undisciplined rant from someone who has long embraced conspiracy theories.

That neither gives the president enough credit nor reflects the gravity of his unfounded accusations. Continue reading “The Daily 202: Wiretapping allegations accomplished what Trump wanted – but may backfire bigly”