I can assure you I try really hard to believe President
Trump when he makes a proclamation via his tweets, but it’s becoming more and
more difficult to do so in light of the fact that during his 466 days of rule
he has made 3001 incorrect or misleading claims, averaging 6.5 per day.
Some of the more noteworthy claims include the following:
The claim, that he passed the biggest tax cut
in history, when in fact it ranks eighth.
The claim, that a border wall was needed to
stop the flow of drugs across the southern border, even though the Drug
Enforcement Administration says a wall would not limit this illegal trade, as
much of it travels through legal borders or under tunnels unaffected by any
possible physical barrier.
The claim his long-promised border wall is
already being built, even though Congress denied him the major funding and
prohibited the use of prototypes he had viewed with great fanfare.
The claim, that he has created 3 million jobs
“since the election,” even though he did not assume the presidency until almost
three months later. About 2.5 million jobs have been created since Trump took
the oath of office.
The claim he made after his first year in
office, that he had “incredible success” in terms of job growth, even though
annual job growth under his presidency has been slower than the last five years
of Obama’s term, and during Trump’s first year Americans witnessed the
slowest job growth in six years.
The claim that, “wages are going up for the
first time in many, many years,” even though they have been rising steadily
since 2014.
The claim, that under the Iran nuclear
agreement, the United States gave the country $150 billion. That money was always
Iran’s money. Iran had billions of dollars in frozen assets in foreign banks
around the globe because of international sanctions over its nuclear program.
It was simply their money that was unfrozen which Iran estimated at $32
billion.
The claim, that President Xi Jinping of China
instantly agreed to a request from Trump to allow the sale of U.S. beef after
years of blocking it. China had already agreed to such sales under a deal
brokered by the Obama administration.
The claim, that the U.S. trade deficit with
China is $500 billion. In reality it is about $300 billion.
The claim “we have done more than anybody in a
year” and “I accomplished more than I promised.” In reality, at the end of his
first year, Trump had signed fewer bills than any president since Dwight D.
Eisenhower. However, he has made up for lost time since the one
year mark and in a year and a half is now tied with George W. Bush.
The claim by
President Donald Trump that he is “undoing the government’s rampant spending
that occurred under former President Obama’s watch.” The facts are
President Trump signed a tax plan that will increase the
deficit by an estimated $1.7 trillion.
The claim Trump made about rescinding the
recent policy of separating border crossing immigrants from their children,
“You can’t do it through an executive order.” President Trump three days
later signed an executive order doing just that.
However, one of my favorite Trumpian tweets was made
approximately two weeks ago. After the historical North Korean Summit our
President stated, “Before taking office people were assuming that we were going
to War with North Korea. President Obama said that North Korea was our
biggest and most dangerous problem. No longer - sleep well tonight!”
Last Friday Trump stated, “The existence and risk of
proliferation of weapons-usable fissile material [nuclear] on the Korean
Peninsula [and] the actions and policies of the Government of North Korea . . .
continue to constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security,
foreign policy, and economy of the United States.”
Guess we shouldn’t “sleep well” after all, since this
basically contradicts his earlier message.
President Trump consistently labels media outlets as “Fake
News” and untrustworthy information sources for our citizens. Perhaps as
the old saying goes, “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.”
