Fact checking trump. This is always fun. Remember the rule with trump. If his lips are moving he is lying.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump argued there was "a massive invasion at our southern border that has spread misery, crime, poverty, disease and destruction to communities all across our land."
FACT CHECK: This is false. There is no evidence of a major surge in crime caused by recent arrivals and Trump's claims ignore the fact that crime is down across the country overall.
Violent crimes were down 6% in the fourth quarter of 2023 compared to the same time frame last year, according to the latest FBI statistics. There was a 13% decline in murders and a 4% drop in property crimes across the country, the data showed.
That declining trend followed unprecedented spikes in 2019 and 2020, Trump’s last two years in office, stats showed.
U.S. citizens also commit crimes at higher rates than undocumented immigrants.
A 2020 study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showed that U.S.-born citizens "are over 2 times more likely to be arrested for violent crimes, 2.5 times more likely to be arrested for drug crimes, and over 4 times more likely to be arrested for property crimes" than undocumented immigrants.
TRUMP CLAIM: While discussing the border and immigration, Trump said his administration "ended all catch-and-release."
FACT CHECK: False, needs more context. Though Trump attempted to end the catch-and-release practice under his presidency, migrants were more likely to be "released" through this process under Trump compared to Biden, according to the libertarian Cato Institute.
The Cato analysis found that Biden’s immigration authorities released 48.6% of individuals apprehended at the border, while the Trump administration released 52.2% over roughly a two-year period.
TRUMP CLAIM: During his presidency, Trump said the U.S. had the best economy in the history of our country, "no inflation" and soaring incomes.
FACT CHECK: False. One of the strongest ways to assess the economy is the unemployment rate, which fell during Trump’s presidency to levels untouched in five decades. But his successor, Joe Biden, matched or exceeded those levels.
Another measure, the annual increases in gross domestic product, were broadly similar under Trump to what they were during the final six years under his predecessor, Obama. And GDP growth under Trump was well below that of previous presidents.
Wage growth increased under Trump, but to say they soared is an exaggeration. Adjusted for inflation, wages began rising during the Barack Obama years and kept increasing under Trump. But these were modest compared with the 2% a year increase seen in the 1960s.
Another metric — the growth rate in personal consumption per person, adjusted for inflation -- wasn’t higher under Trump than previous presidents. For many families, this statistic serves an economic activity bottom line, determining how much they can spend on food, clothing, housing, health care and travel.
In Trump’s three years in office through January 2020, real consumption per person grew by 2% a year. Of the 30 nonoverlapping three-year periods from 1929 to the end of his presidency, Trump’s periods ranked in the bottom third.
As for inflation being zero, that’s also wrong. It was low, ranging between 1.8% and 2.4% increases year-over-year in 2017, 2018 and 2019. This is roughly the range the Federal Reserve likes to see. During the pandemic-dominated year of 2020, inflation fell to 1.2%, because demand plummeted as entertainment and travel collapsed.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump said he would reverse government regulations to encourage the development of electric vehicles, saying he’d be "saving the U.S. auto industry from complete obliteration, which is happening right now."
FACT CHECK: False. During Biden’s presidency, employment in auto and parts manufacturing had risen by 127,800 jobs through December 2023.
TRUMP CLAIM: Discussing U.S. engagement in Afghanistan, Trump said, “We also left behind $85 billion worth of military equipment.”
FACT CHECK: False. That’s wrong.
The United States spent $88.6 billion in Afghanistan providing security assistance over the course of two decades, and only a fraction of it was for hardware. The lion’s share of that is for salaries for members of the Afghan army and national police, FactCheck.org reported.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump claimed in his speech that he's leading in Nevada by 14 points.
FACT CHECK: False. According to 538's polling average, he leads Biden by only 6 points in the Silver State. Even the best poll for Trump gives him only a 10-point lead in Nevada.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump said, "We’ve had the worst inflation we’ve ever had under this person [Biden]."
FACT CHECK: False. Although inflation is still considered an economic problem for the U.S., the overall rate is nowhere near a record.
The highest inflation rates were recorded in the 1970s and early 1980s when the annual price increase sometimes hovered between 12% and 15%. The highest rate on Biden’s watch was around 9% in summer 2022. That was the highest monthly figure in about four decades but not the highest ever.
TRUMP CLAIM: Trump said of Biden's administration, "This is the only administration that said we're going to raise your taxes by four times what you're paying now."
FACT CHECK: False. Biden proposes a tax increase of roughly 7% over the next decade, not 300%, as Trump claims. About 83% of the proposed Biden tax increase would be borne by the top 1% of taxpayers, who earn over $1 million a year in income.
