This week we went to the Republican National Committee in Milwaukee and this roundup is a special edition with four debunked claims made by Donald Trump during his 90 minute speech at the RNC on July 19th, 2024.
We are monitoring social media, national and international media, and fact-checking websites in order to share the Fake News making the rounds each week.
The world of news is complex – and false stories and images are often widely shared on social media. Blasting News’s editorial team spots the most popular hoaxes and misleading information every week to help you discern truth from falsehood. Here is some of the most popular Fake News of the week from around the world. Don't be fooled!
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1. The Lie: Migrants are "coming from prisons, they’re coming from jails, they're coming from mental institutions and insane asylums."
The Truth: This is not the first time that Trump used this claim during his campaign. However it is false.
- Even if in the ’80s Fidel Castro allowed the mass immigration to the U.S. of around 125.000 Cubans, including 22.000 “convicts” as the Washington Post wrote in an article, this time there is no proof to support Trump’s claim.
- According to data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the number of “criminal noncitizens” arrested into the country has risen in the last three years. However this is not a proof to support Trump’s claim.
- No major humanitarian organizations active in Central and South America reported that countries’ governments of that region freed prisoners or mentally ill patients from hospitals.
Links:
Donal Trump’s acceptance speech
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oy8_kk2uzs
Archive version:
Transcript:
https://www.happyscribe.com/public/abc-news/donald-trump-s-full-speech-at-the-rnc
2.
The Lie: "The best economy in the history of our country, in the history of the world. … We had no inflation, soaring incomes," said Trump talking about his first mandate.
The Truth: This statement is mostly false. Trump ran the U.S. between January 2017 and January 2021. In order to assess the state of the economy we can use three metrics: the unemployment rate, the gross domestic product and the inflation rate.
- According to Federal Reserve data, under Trump the unemployment rate was at its lowest point in September 2019 when it was 3.5%. Under Joe Biden the unemployment rate went further down in January and April 2023 to 3,4%.
- According to the data published by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, under Trump the annual increase of the GDP was similar to the final six years of Barack Obama's tenure (2.3%), close to the one of Joe Biden (2.2%) even if he fought the effect of the pandemic on the economy and less than George W. Bush (2.4%) and Bill Clinton (4.4%) to mention the most recent presidents.
- During Trump’s four years at the White House inflation was not close to zero, but around 1,9%, that is in line with the Fed target of 2%. Under Barack Obama (2009–2017) the inflation rate was 1,4%, one of the lowest in the history of the country, together with Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953–1961) at 1,4%, and John F. Kennedy (1961–1963) at 1,1%.
3.
The Lie: “The only administration that said we’re going to raise your taxes by four times what you’re paying now,” said Trump about the Biden administration.
The Truth:
- It’s not true that Biden said that he wants to quadruple the taxes if elected. According to a fact sheet from the White House Joe Biden proposed a tax increase of 7% in ten years and not an increase of 300% as Trump stated in his speech.
- Biden proposed tax increases will target the top 1% of taxpayers and at the same time will cut taxes for taxpayers earning up to $60,400, and an increase of around $20 per year to taxpayers earning between $60,400 and $107,300.
