Las Vegas Sun

March 19, 2024

editorial:

Trump and truth start with letter T but have little else in common

We applaud Donald Trump for his promise, at the start of his acceptance speech as the Republican Party’s candidate for president, to set out “a straightforward assessment of the state of our nation. I will present the facts plainly and honestly. We cannot afford to be so politically correct anymore.”

We always thought that providing facts plainly and honestly is about the most correct thing a politician could do.

“(A)t our convention, there will be no lies,” Trump continued. “We will honor the American people with the truth, and nothing else.”

And just that quickly into his speech Thursday night in Cleveland, he stopped telling the truth. An examination of his remarks showed that he fudged a lot, beyond just the murkiness and exaggerations that sneak into political rhetoric. Throughout his remarks, by taking facts out of context or getting them wrong, he painted a dark, dire picture of America today, then announced himself as its savior. The audience, of course, took Trump at his word. He had promised to be truthful.

Testing Trump’s self-announced integrity, news organizations around the country pounced on his speech, fact-checking it for accuracy and truthfulness. Trump should have expected as much. And here is a sampling of what was found by such media as NPR, Politico, the Associated Press, PolitiFact, The New York Times and The Washington Post. They delved into the accuracy of the statements spewed by Trump, and the larger context of the information the candidate was sharing with his believers in his drum-beating to paint a very bleak picture of our country.

Law enforcement: Right out of the gate, Trump said, “Decades of progress made in bringing down crime are now being reversed by this administration’s rollback of criminal enforcement.” But as the Associated Press points out, President Barack Obama “has actually achieved some big increases in spending for state and local law enforcement, including billions in grants provided through the 2009 stimulus.” And Politico cites FBI figures showing that the murder rate has declined nationally under Obama from 5.4 per 100,000 in 2008 to 4.5 in 2014. Crime rates in multiple other categories are at record-low levels, too.

Trump said, “The number of police officers killed in the line of duty has risen by almost 50 percent compared to this point last year.” The Post found, instead, that the number of officers killed in the line of duty increased by 8 percent over this point last year — and that, over the past two decades, the total number of police deaths has decreased. The largest cause of police deaths is traffic-related, including pursuits that turned fatal and officers being struck intentionally. The number of officers shot and killed has spiked this year, largely due to the ambushes in Dallas and Baton Rouge, La. The Associated Press notes that police are statistically safer on America’s streets now than at any time in recent decades, and points out that the 109 law enforcement fatalities in 2013 were the lowest since 1956.

Unlawful immigration: Trump said, “The number of new illegal immigrant families who have crossed the border so far this year already exceeds the entire total from 2015. They are being released by the tens of thousands into our communities with no regard for the impact on public safety or resources.” Indeed, as the Post points out, 51,152 families have been caught illegally crossing the southwest border through the first nine months of the current fiscal year, compared with nearly 40,000 for all of the previous fiscal year. But illegal crossings — measured by actual apprehensions — are down overall compared with 2012, 2013 and 2014, based on government figures. As for the number being released, that is driven by judges handling the detention cases, not the Obama administration.

Syrian refugees: Trump said Hillary Clinton proposes admitting new Syrian refugees “despite the fact that there’s no way to screen these refugees in order to find out who they are or where they come from.” Trump has constantly claimed this point, but it is not true, Politico and other news organizations point out. “In fact, the federal government has an extensive screening process for refugees — a process that often takes 18 to 24 months to complete and includes in-person interviews and biometric checks. That’s a major reason why the U.S. has taken in so few Syrian refugees, despite President Obama’s promise to increase that number,” Politico concluded.

Taxes: Trump said, “America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world.” Even after allowing for wiggle room, his claim is far from true. Among the world’s developed nations, the U.S. has a below-average tax rate, Politico reports. Additionally, our highest tax rate, 39.6 percent, isn’t among the top 40 in the world, Politico reported, citing the accounting firm KPMG. It’s a simple, verifiable fact: Ours is one of the least-taxed industrial countries in the world.

Poverty: Trump said, “2 million more Latinos are in poverty today than when the president took his oath of office.” The Post says Trump is “turning a good news story into something negative by using raw numbers and using 2008 as a base, instead of 2009, when Obama took office.” Citing Census Bureau figures, the Post reported, “From March 2009 to March 2014, the most recent year for which data is available, the number of Latinos in poverty has increased 750,000. But the overall number of Latinos has grown by nearly 7 million, so the percentage in poverty has declined from 25.3 percent to 23.6 percent.

Economy: Trump said, “Household incomes are down more than $4,000 since the year 2000.” True, if based on 2014 Census data, but the most recent Census data show median annual household income today is within $700 of what it was in 2000, versus $4,000 less, based on 2016 dollars. And remember, this period includes the slow recovery after the Great Recession, which was enabled specifically by a Republican president and Congress, and for which we are still repairing the damage from the Bush years.

Throughout his campaign, Trump has played on people’s fears by painting America apocalyptic. With his bellicose rhetoric and by exploiting twisted facts, distorted history and half-truths, he has frightened a nation and positioned himself as the solution. He is manipulative and untrustworthy.

Voters beware.

Join the Discussion:

Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.

Full comments policy