Tag: Trump lies

Trump and the Truth: A President Tests His Own Credibility

The following article by Peter Baker was posted on the New York Times website March 17, 2018:

President Trump with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada in the Oval Office last year. Mr. Trump said this past week that he had made up information during a conversation with Mr. Trudeau. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

WASHINGTON — When President Trump told donors at a fund-raiser this past week that he had invented a fact during a conversation with Canada’s prime minister, the surprise was not that America’s leader makes things up, but that he openly admitted it.

Or maybe admitted is the wrong word. He actually seemed to boast about it.

In the furor that followed the disclosure of his remarks, attention focused on the impact on relations with Canada and whether the president was right or wrong in his assertion about trade. But the episode goes to the heart of a more fundamental debate about Mr. Trump: When does he know the things he says are false, and when is he simply misinformed? Continue reading “Trump and the Truth: A President Tests His Own Credibility”

Fact-checking Trump’s weekly address on immigrants, crime and sanctuary cities

The following article by Salvador Rizzo was posted on the Washington Post website March 15, 2018:

The president has uses misleading anecdotal evidence to illustrate his point. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

President Trump has a habit of linking undocumented immigrants to grisly crimes when, in fact, most of the available data and research say immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than the U.S.-born population.

We’ve twice given Four Pinocchios to Trump for these claims (in 2018 and 2015), but the president continues to marshal anecdotal evidence of immigrant crimes to make the case for a massive wall along the southern border. Continue reading “Fact-checking Trump’s weekly address on immigrants, crime and sanctuary cities”

In fundraising speech, Trump says he made up trade claim in meeting with Justin Trudeau

The following article by Josh Dawsey, Damian Paletta and Erica Werner was posted on the Washington Post website March 15, 2018:

President Trump said he made up trade information during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Here’s how the two have interacted. (Victoria Walker/The Washington Post)

President Trump boasted in a fundraising speech Wednesday that he made up information in a meeting with the leader of a top U.S. ally, saying he insisted to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the United States runs a trade deficit with its neighbor to the north without knowing whether that was true.

“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please,’ ” Trump said, mimicking Trudeau, according to audio of the private event in Missouri obtained by The Washington Post. “Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed. Continue reading “In fundraising speech, Trump says he made up trade claim in meeting with Justin Trudeau”

Trump celebrates winning 52 percent of women in 2016 — which is only how he did among whites

The following article by Philip Bump was posted on the Washington Post website March 10, 2018:

Supporters of President Trump cheer during his remarks at a rally March 10 in Moon Township, Pa. Credit: Nicholas Kamm/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images)

President Trump arrived in western Pennsylvania on Saturday night for one of his favorite presidential tasks: delivering a long, free-association speech at a political rally.

At one point he began rehashing the 2016 election, as he does.

“Women!” he yelled. “Women, we love you. We love you.

“Hey, didn’t we surprise them with women during the election? Remember? ‘Women won’t like Donald Trump,’ ” he said, mimicking cable news pundits. “I said, ‘Have I really had that kind of a problem? I don‘t think so.’ But: ‘Women won’t like Donald Trump. It will be a rough night for Donald Trump because the women won’t come out.’ We got 52 percent. Right? Fifty-two. Continue reading “Trump celebrates winning 52 percent of women in 2016 — which is only how he did among whites”

President Trump has made 2,436 false or misleading claims so far

The following article by Meg Kelly, Glenn Kessler and Salvador Rizzo was posted on the Washington Post website March 2, 2018:

Since taking office, President Trump has made 2,436 false or misleading claims and flip-flops. He now averages 6 per day. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

In the 406 days since he took the oath of office, President Trump has made 2,436 false or misleading claims, according to The Fact Checker’s database that analyzes, categorizes and tracks every suspect statement uttered by the president.

That’s an average of six claims a day. Continue reading “President Trump has made 2,436 false or misleading claims so far”

The tall tale of President Trump’s Cincinnati ‘success’

The following article by Meg Kelly was posted on the Washington Post website February 28, 2018:

The president has a habit of telling tales based on a kernel of truth. His history with Cincinnati is no different. (Meg Kelly/The Washington Post)

“I’m here in the beautiful Cincinnati. I’ll tell you, you know I was here — I worked here for a long time. People don’t know; most people don’t know. Swifton Village, long time ago. Really? Oh, you know Swifton. … Came here a long time ago. I had a great success with my father. I was a young success. And, you know, if I didn’t have a success, maybe I would have gone and just done something else. Who knows? But I spent a lot of time in this state and a lot of time in Cincinnati, and I love it. … I worked here. I was here. I lived here. I mean, it was great.”

— President Trump, in remarks on tax restructuring, Feb. 5, 2018

President Trump’s emphatic references to his time in Ohio and his “great success” there caught our ear — after all, the Trump name is synonymous with New York, but Ohio? Continue reading “The tall tale of President Trump’s Cincinnati ‘success’”

Trump said he would charge a gunman. Here’s what he’s actually done in the face of danger.

The following article by Eli Rosenberg was posted on the Washington Post website February 26, 2018:

President Trump said he thinks he would have “run” into the school in Parkland, Fla., during the shooting. Here’s how he’s fared in the face of danger before. (Bastien Inzaurralde, Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

President Trump’s assertion that he would have run toward the Parkland, Fla., gunman had he been near the school would have been a bold claim for just about anybody to make.

“I really believe I’d run in, even if I didn’t have a weapon,” he said during a meeting at the White House on Monday. Continue reading “Trump said he would charge a gunman. Here’s what he’s actually done in the face of danger.”

15 Claims From Donald Trump’s Speech to Conservatives, Fact Checked

The following article by Linda Qiu was posted on the New York Times website February 24, 2018:

Pres. Trump speaking at the CPAC in Maryland. Credit: Pete Marovich for The New York Times

President Trump addressed a range of policy issues, from tax cuts to gun policy to immigration, at Friday’s annual meeting of the Conservative Political Action Conference. Below is a look at some of the facts and figures he cited that were accurate, false or could use some additional context.

“We have passed massive, biggest in history, tax cuts and reforms … for 45 years nothing has been passed.”

Continue reading “15 Claims From Donald Trump’s Speech to Conservatives, Fact Checked”

What Trump left out of his tweets about Facebook and Russia

The following article by Callum Borchers was posted on the Washington Post website February 19, 2018:

As President Trump emerged from the White House Feb. 16, 2018, he declined to answer reporters’ questions about Russia. (The Washington Post)

President Trump’s weekend tweetstorm included a shout-out to Facebook executive Rob Goldman, who in his own tweets had argued three points that Trump found supportive to his claim that there was no collusion between Russia and Trump’s presidential campaign.

  1. Most of the 3,300 Russia-linked Facebook ads that the social network discovered and disclosed last fall were designed to sow discord in the U.S. political system, not to swing the 2016 presidential election in Trump’s favor.
  2. Most of the Russian ad spending occurred after Election Day.
  3. The media does not cover these points.

Continue reading “What Trump left out of his tweets about Facebook and Russia”

Trump lashes out over Russia probe in angry and error-laden tweetstorm

The following article by Josh Dawsey and Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website February 18, 2018:

President Trump speaks during a meeting with lawmakers about trade policy in the Cabinet Room at the White House on Feb. 13, 2018. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — President Trump lashed out with fresh anger about the intensifying Russia probe over the weekend, accusing Democrats of enabling a foreign adversary to interfere in the 2016 election and attacking the FBI as well as his own national security adviser.

In a defiant and error-laden tweetstorm that was remarkable even by his own combative standards, Trump stewed aloud about the latest indictments brought by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III against Russians for their elaborate campaign to denigrate the Democratic presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton, and push voters toward Trump. Continue reading “Trump lashes out over Russia probe in angry and error-laden tweetstorm”