What Trump got wrong on Twitter this week (#3)

The following article by Michelle Ye Hee Lee was posted on their website:

In the third installment of this Fact Checker series, we fact-checked what President-elect Donald Trump got wrong in 11 tweets in the past week. And we have a bonus at the end of the round-up: something Trump got right on Twitter.

Violent and property crime rates in Atlanta — much of which is in Rep. John Lewis’s (D-Ga.) 5th Congressional District — have been declining over the past decade, similar to the national trend. Atlanta did see an uptick in crime in 2015, as many major cities did. But crime experts look at crime over many years — 10 to 15 years at least — to determine crime trends.

Trump exaggerated that Lewis’s district is “failing,” PolitiFact found. The unemployment rate and poverty rate in his district were higher in 2015 than the state and national averages. But the percent of people with high school degrees and bachelor’s degrees were higher than the state and national averages.

Lewis’s constituents fact-checked Trump immediately on Twitter, using the hashtag #defendthefifth:

 

Perhaps a minor point, but Woodward took issue with the unsubstantiated report being presented at an intelligence briefing, not with it being presented at all. Here’s what Woodward said on “Fox News Sunday” on Jan. 15, with the part Trump is citing in bold:

Woodward: “I think what’s underreported here is Trump’s point of view on it. And you laid it out when those former CIA people said these things about Trump, that he was a recruited, you know, agent of the Russians.”

Host Chris Wallace: “Useful fool.”

Woodward: “Yes, and a useful fool. I mean they started this. And in Trump’s mind, he knows the old adage, once a CIA man, always a CIA man. And no one came out and said those people shouldn’t be saying things. So then act two is the briefing when this dossier is put out. I I’ve lived in this world for 45 years where you get things and people make allegations. That is a garbage document. It never should have been presented in — as part of an intelligence briefing. As you suggested, other channels have the White House Counsel give it to Trump’s incoming White House counsel.

So Trump’s right to be upset about that. And I think if you look at the real chronology and the nature of the battle here, those intelligence chiefs who were the best we’ve had, who were terrific and have done great work made a mistake here. And when people make mistakes, they should apologize.”

Trump misstates a critical issue. Deployed nuclear weapons in Russia has climbed a bit because the Russians are modernizing their force. But they have to meet 2018 deployment caps set by the Measures for the Further Reduction and Limitation of Strategic Offensive Arms (also called New START), which does reduce and limit Russian strategic weapons. The treaty limits the number of deployed strategic warheads to no more than 1,550 on both sides.

We covered this in depth in a separate fact-check.

Regular readers know The Fact Checker frowns on claims that suggest a president is responsible for every good or bad thing that happens to an economy on his watch — or even before he takes office. The U.S. economy is huge; so many factors affect the economy that are out of the president’s control, and decisions made long ago continue to reverberate in the future.

From The Upshot column at the New York Times:

“But the reality is that presidents have far less control over the economy than you might imagine. Presidential economic records are highly dependent on the dumb luck of where the nation is in the economic cycle. And the White House has no control over the demographic and technological forces that influence the economy.

Even in areas where the president really does have power to shape the economy — appointing Federal Reserve governors, steering fiscal and regulatory policy, responding to crises and external shocks — the relationship between presidential action and economic outcome is often uncertain and hard to prove.”

Here’s what Ford’s 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.”

So, for the third week in a row: 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. However, Ford’s top officials also have said they are encouraged by economic policies and business opportunities under Trump’s administration.

Trump’s attack on NBC’s “Today” show is unsupported. Trump attacked the show after its broadcast questioning whether Trump is taking too much credit for keeping jobs in the United States as president-elect.

Throughout 2016, the “Today” show was the highest-rating morning show among the key advertising demographic of 25- to 54-year-olds. In December 2016, the Associated Press declared the “resurgence” of the “Today” show and its gains in viewership in the past year.

The Hollywood Reporter noted Trump granted his second TV interview as president-elect to Matt Lauer of the “Today” show.

A bonus: Here’s something Trump got right on Twitter this week.

Lewis, who is boycotting Trump’s inauguration, had said it would be the first inauguration he’ll miss. But in fact, Lewis boycotted the inauguration of George W. Bush, and instead spent the day in his district. “He thought it would be hypocritical to attend Bush’s swearing-in because he doesn’t believe Bush is the true elected president,” The Washington Post reported on Jan. 21, 2007.

So what gives? Here’s the response from his staff to our inquiry:

Last, we’ll just leave this here.

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