Fact-checking RNC speeches exposes falsehoods and unsubstantiated claims

During four nights Republican National Conventionwhich ended on Thursday, numerous speakers filled the time with commentary, bombast and a wide range of falsehoods.

Influx of disinformation speeches on the economy, immigration, crime and the southern border, as well as President Joe Biden’s domestic and foreign policies and former President Donald Trump’s accomplishments.

“There was a lot of disinformation in Trump’s speech on Thursday,” he said. Stephen Medvicdirector of the Center for Politics and Public Affairs at Franklin & Marshall College. “And members of his party are now emulating his hyperbolic style of exaggeration, showing a complete disregard for the truth throughout the convention.”

The following catalogue of errors and exaggerations was compiled by fact checkers and reporters from AP, USA today, PBS, CNNThe Inquirer and other sources.

Economy

In a speech Thursday night accepting the Republican Party’s presidential nomination, Trump made faulty statements about the economy:

“We had the best economy in the history of the world.”

Economic growth averaged 2.67% under Trump, but averaged 4% during President Bill Clinton’s two terms, from 1993 to 2001 — not to mention 5.2% under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Biden has averaged 3.5% growth in his first three years in office, compared with Trump’s 2.7%.

“We had no inflation.”

Inflation was 2.9% under the Trump administration in June and July 2018, which was the highest value in the six-year period.

Biden has struggled with inflation throughout his presidency, with the consumer price index reaching 9.1% in June 2022, its highest level since 1981. but it has since gone down up to 3%.

“We offered you the biggest tax cut ever.”

Trump’s $5.5 trillion cut was the eighth-largest reduction in gross domestic product (GDP) since 1918 and the fourth-largest when adjusted for inflation, according to World Bank data. Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.

Trump said grocery prices have increased by 57% under the Biden administration.

While it is true that prices have increased, this raise has been closer 25%According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Border and immigration

On Thursday evening, Trump made his now-familiar, unconfirmed comments about the U.S.-Mexico border:

“The greatest invasion in history is happening right here in our country — they’re coming from every corner of the Earth, not just South America, but Africa, Asia, the Middle East — they’re coming from everywhere, and this administration is doing nothing to stop them,” Trump said. “They’re coming from the prisons and the jails and the asylums and the insane asylums, and the terrorists are at levels we’ve never seen before.”

The Biden administration has struggled to manage a gigantic influx of migrants, including a record number of parents traveling with children, according to reports. However, experts question Trump’s apply “dehumanizing” deadline “invasion.” They point out that most of the migrants are fleeing persecution or poverty and are seeking humanitarian protection. There is no evidence that people are coming from prisons and asylums, or that they are terrorists coming to unprecedented numbers.

“I will end the illegal immigration crisis by closing the border and completing the wall, most of which I have already built.”

Just 458 miles barriers have been built, mostly reinforcing existing structures. It’s a fraction of the 1,933-mile border between the United States and Mexico.

Other speakers at the RNC convention touched on similar themes regarding the border:

“Just last week Ruben Gallego [Arizona Democratic Senate candidate] We voted to make sure that millions of people who came to our country illegally can vote in the upcoming election,” Kari Lake, a Republican candidate for Senate in Arizona, said Tuesday night.

This it didn’t happenU.S. law already prohibits non-citizens from voting in federal elections.

Criminality

Criticizing the Biden administration for being cushioned on crime is a common theme among Republicans.

“Our crime rate is going up while crime rates around the world are going down,” Trump said Thursday night.

This narrative is part of a “disinformation campaign, pure and simple” said Matt Jordan, president of Pennsylvania State University Literacy Initiativeand disinformation expert.

“The idea is to create the belief that American cities are ‘riddled with crime,’” Jordan said in an interview, “and the GOP wants to restore law and order to cities like Philadelphia.”

FBI data shows that between 2022 and 2023, there was a decline in murder (13.2%), violent crime (5.7%), and property crime (4.3%) across the United States. Brennan Center for Justice.

Trump vs Biden

Trump supporters speaking at the RNC convention were vocal — and at times vague — in their support for the candidate:

“We were not at war under Donald Trump,” Sen. Rick Scott (R., Fla.) said Tuesday night.

United States he was at war in Afghanistan throughout Trump’s presidency. At the end of his term in January 2021, about 2,500 troops remained in Afghanistan and Iraq. At least 65 active-duty soldiers they were killed hostile actions during the Trump presidency.

Biden withdrew from Afghanistan in his first year in office.

Biden is “focused on building electric tanks,” Florida Republican Rep. Mike Waltz said Wednesday night.

In 2022, the Army issued climate strategy which called for a shift to various types of electric vehicles. It did not include tanks. It is unclear whether Biden will ever discussed electric tanks.

In addition to her false claims about the military under the Biden administration, Trump lawyer Alina Habba also misrepresented the nature of the legal cases against the former president, who this year made history as the first former president to be convicted of a crime.

“The only crime President Trump has committed is loving America,” Habba said Thursday night.

May 30 Trump was convicted 34 counts of falsifying business records in connection with a hush money payment to a porn actress. New York prosecutors said it was an illegal scheme to influence the 2016 presidential election.