Tag: Trump lies

Sad! Don Jr. uses obviously photoshopped image to falsely inflate Trump’s approval rating

The following article by Aaron Rupar was posed on the ThinkProgress website August 10, 2018:

Donald Trump Jr. took to Instagram on Thursday to tout his father’s approval rating.

“Amazing,” Don Jr. wrote. “I guess there is a magic wand to make things happen and @realdonaldtrump seems to have it. #maga #amreicafirst [sic]”

Don Jr. included a cable news screencap showing President Trump’s approval rating at 50 percent.

CREDIT: SCREENCAP
CREDIT: SCREENCAP

There was just one problem — the screengrab Don Jr. posted was clearly and sloppily photoshopped. “50%” was just pasted over “40%” to make President Trump’s approval rating 10 points higher than it really is.

President Trump’s new favorite trade talking point falls apart under scrutiny

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website August 8, 2018:

President Trump claimed early victory over the trade deficit, but his numbers didn’t add up. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“In the numbers that were just released — the reporters didn’t cover this one — to me it was maybe more important than the 4.1 [percent growth in the gross domestic product], because we’re going to be doing a lot better than 4.1 as things go. For the first time maybe ever, the trade deficit just fell — think of that — for the quarter, $52 billion. Nobody reports it. Why don’t you report that? Just fell by $52 billion.”
— President Trump, remarks during a campaign rally, Wilkes-Barre, Pa., Aug. 2

“Very importantly, a number that people aren’t talking about, because most people don’t quite get it, but we had a $52 billion trade deficit reduction — which, people, is — you know, I will tell you, that’s a lot. That’s for the quarter.”
— Trump, remarks at a roundtable, July 31 

“Trade deficit — $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter. . . . I think nobody would have thought that would be possible so quickly. $52 billion reduction in the trade deficit for the quarter.”
— Trump, remarks in a news conference with the Italian prime minister, July 30

View the complete article here.

Trump cites sketchy data — and makes it worse by mangling the details

The following article by Salvador RIzzo was posted on the Washington Post website August 6, 2018:

The president has a habit of touting his economic successes, but he often does so with dubious statistics. (The Washington Post)

“Ninety-five percent of American manufacturers are optimistic about their company’s outlook. And that’s the highest level, also, in history. And that’s an old survey. Been around a long time.”
— President Trump, in remarks at the White House, July 27, 2018

“Small-business optimism has reached an all-time high. It’s the highest it’s ever been recorded.”
— Trump, during a campaign rally in Las Vegas, June 23, 2018

“The Heritage Foundation just came out recently, and they said that we’ve already implemented 64 percent of our top agenda items. And that’s ahead of anybody, including Ronald Reagan.”
— Trump, in a round table on taxes in Las Vegas, June 23, 2018

These statistics from the National Association of Manufacturers, the National Federation of Independent Business and the Heritage Foundation seem to back up Trump’s bullish claims about his presidency.

View the complete article here.

Election Commission Documents Cast Doubt on Trump’s Claims of Voter Fraud

The following article by Jessica Huseman was posted on the ProPublica website August 3, 2018:

Thousands of pages of internal records are likely to bolster critics of the short-lived Trump administration commission.

A White House staff member records President Donald Trump speaking at a meeting of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity in July 2017. Credit: Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP Photo

In May of 2017, President Donald Trump established a presidential commission to explore the threat of voter fraud — staffing it with multiple Republicans who had theorized that fraud was a substantial problem in American democracy. The commission, widely called the voter fraud commission, was immediately criticized as a political creation aimed at a phony problem.

In January, Trump disbanded the commission, which by then had produced little if any evidence that voter fraud was a significant menace.

Today, thousands of commission documents were released that show aspects of the body’s inner workings. As critics have suggested, the records — a mix of memos, internal emails and reports — make clear the commission’s work was driven by a small number of members who were convinced voter fraud was widespread, and that other members were often excluded from critical decisions about the commission’s aims and tactics.

View the complete article here.

Trump Introduces New Absurd Lie at Campaign Rally: ‘Russia Is Very Unhappy that Trump Won’

The following article by Cody Fenwick was posted on the AlterNet.org website August 2, 2018:

The president knows it’s not true — but he said it anyway.

Credit: CNN Screen Grab

President Donald Trump introduced a new lie to his repertoire Thursday night at a campaign in Pennsylvania, even as he attacked the media for supposedly spreading lies about him.

While defending his much-derided summit in Helsinki with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said, “Russia’s very unhappy Trump won, that I can tell you.”

But this is a blatant lie, and we know Trump knows it’s a lie. First, we know this because the U.S. intelligence community unanimously concluded that Russia intervened in the 2016 election in order to help Trump win.

View the complete article here.

Has the Trump administration repealed 22 regulations for each new one?

The following article by Glenn Kessler was posted on the Washington Post website August 3, 2018:

President Trump has taken on the regulatory state, but his team overstates his success with fishy numbers. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

This president has actually repealed 22 federal regulations for every new federal rule put on the books. He’s repealed more federal regulations than any president in American history. It’s true.”
—Vice President Pence, remarks in St. Louis, July 19, 2018

“We’ve gotten rid of more regulations than any president in the history of the United States. And that’s done in less than two years.”
—President Trump, remarks during a rally in Tampa, July 31, 2018

One of the Trump administration’s favorite talking points has been that the president has repealed more federal regulations than any president in history. Another favorite is that the president has repealed 22 federal regulations for every new regulation placed on the books. This supposedly exceeds a campaign promise to repeal two regulations for every one implemented.

View the complete article here.

Trump’s own Justice Department admits he lied to Congress

The following article by Caroline Orr was posted on the ShareBlue.com website August 1, 2018:

It’s now part of the official government record that Trump is a liar.

Credit: Evan Vucci, AP

It’s no secret that Trump lies a lot, about matters big and small.

There are daily newspaper sections dedicated to tracking his lies, countless articles devoted to explaining and debunking his lies, entire books focused on discussing his history of lies, a Twitter hashtag created to catalogue his lies, a raging debate about what to call his lies — and as of this week, there’s now an official government statement confirming that he lies.

In a letter responding to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request and subsequent lawsuit filed by Lawfare’s editor in chief Benjamin Wittes, the Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted that Trump lied to Congress just a month after taking office, during his first speechbefore a joint session.

View the complete article here.

Trump Says You Need an ID to Buy Groceries. Shoppers Say, ‘Huh?’

The following article by Katie Rogers was posted on the New York Times website August 1, 2018:

Pres. Trump on Tuesday at a rally in Tampa, Fla., where he said, “If you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card. You need ID.” Credit: Doug Mills, The New York Times

WASHINGTON — Just when it seemed like Tuesday’s “Make America Great Again” rally in Florida would end with the typical punch list — Democrats, journalists, immigrants — President Trump added new spice to his usual extemporaneous potpourri by asserting that supermarket shoppers need to show valid identification in the checkout aisle.

“You know,” Mr. Trump knowingly told the approving crowd, “if you go out and you want to buy groceries, you need a picture on a card. You need ID.”

It is not often that Mr. Trump, a mold-breaking billionaire, is seen as behaving presidentially, which he thinks would be too boring, anyway. But with this particular offhand and baldly inaccurate comment, the president landed himself in the company of other presidents and presidential hopefuls who have fumbled while trying to showcase their everyman appeal.

View the complete article here.

President Trump has made 4,229 false or misleading claims in 558 days

The following article by Glenn Kessler, Salvador Rizzo and Meg Kelly was posted on the Washington Post website August 1, 2018:

The Fact Checker is keeping a running list of the false or misleading claims Trump says most regularly. Here’s our latest tally as of July 31, 2018. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

Because of summer vacation schedules, we had fallen a month behind in updating The Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president.

It turns out that’s when the president decided to turn on the spigots of false and misleading claims. As of day 558, he’s made 4,229 Trumpian claims — an increase of 978 in just two months.

That’s an overall average of nearly 7.6 claims a day.

View the complete article here.

Want to Know More About … Trump Lies

Susan Glasser: “The Lying Isn’t Accidental, It Is Purposeful, It’s On Purpose In Fact, And A Key Part Of His Political Identity At This Point, Especially In Political Rallies, To Me It Is As Identifiable With Donald Trump As His ‘Make America Great Again’ Slogan.”

SUSAN GLASSER: “That is why it is such a valuable service to have that fact checker column. it is giving us metrics to see what we intuitively feel. The lying isn’t accidental, it is purposeful, it’s on purpose in fact, and a key part of his political identity at this point, especially in political rallies, to me it is as identifiable with Donald Trump as his ‘make America great again’ slogan.” [New Day, CNN, 8/3/18; Video] Continue reading “Want to Know More About … Trump Lies”