Keeping Trump Honest, Miami Edition
[b]THE ECONOMY[/b]
[u]TRUMP:[/u] “We had the greatest economy in the history of our country.”
[u]THE FACTS:[/u] The numbers show it wasn’t the greatest in U.S. history. Did the U.S. have the most jobs on record before the coronavirus pandemic? Sure, the population had grown. The 3.5% unemployment rate before the recession was at a half-century low, but the percentage of people working or searching for jobs was still below a 2000 peak. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer looked at Trump’s economic growth record this month. Growth under Trump averaged 2.48% annually before the pandemic, only slightly better than the 2.41% gains achieved during Barack Obama’s second term. By contrast, the economic expansion that began in 1982 during Ronald Reagan’s presidency averaged 4.2% a year.
So Trump is wrong.
[b]ELECTION FRAUD[/b]
[u]TRUMP:[/u] “When I see thousands of ballots dumped in a garbage can and they happen to have my name on it? I’m not happy about it.” — from Miami.
[u]THE FACTS:[/u] Nobody has seen that. Contrary to Trump’s repeated, baseless attacks on voting security, voting and election fraud is rare. No cases involving thousands of ballots dumped in the trash have been reported in this election. [i]The Brennan Center for Justice in 2017 ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004% to 0.0009%, based on studies of past elections[/i].
[b]COVID-19[/b]
[u]TRUMP: [/u]"Just the other day they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it so ... that’s what I heard and that’s what I saw.”
[u]THE FACTS:[/u] He's botching the study's findings. The study cited, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not find that 85% of mask wearers catch COVID-19. If that were the case, the majority of Americans would be infected.
It found something quite different: that 85% of the small group of COVID-19 patients surveyed — about 150 on this question — reported they had worn a mask often or always around the time they would have become infected.
The group's exposure to potentially infected people in the community varied. Most reported shopping or being in a home with multiple people. But they were twice as likely to have eaten at a restaurant, where masks are set aside for the meal, than were uninfected people in a control group. Most studies have shown that wearing masks reduces the transmission of the virus by blocking respiratory droplets. Several studies have also shown that masks could offer some protection for the people who wear them.
[b]BEING A CRYBABY[/b]
[u]TRUMP,[/u] reacting to the news that people associated with the Biden campaign on a recent flight with Harris tested positive for COVID-19: “We extend our best wishes, which is more than they did to me, but that’s OK.”
[u]THE FACTS:[/u] That’s false.
Hours after Trump’s early morning announcement on Oct. 2 that he had tested positive, both Biden and Harris sent their wishes for a quick recovery via Twitter. [i]“Jill and I send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery,” Biden wrote. “We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family.”
AP[/i]
[u]TRUMP:[/u] “We had the greatest economy in the history of our country.”
[u]THE FACTS:[/u] The numbers show it wasn’t the greatest in U.S. history. Did the U.S. have the most jobs on record before the coronavirus pandemic? Sure, the population had grown. The 3.5% unemployment rate before the recession was at a half-century low, but the percentage of people working or searching for jobs was still below a 2000 peak. Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer looked at Trump’s economic growth record this month. Growth under Trump averaged 2.48% annually before the pandemic, only slightly better than the 2.41% gains achieved during Barack Obama’s second term. By contrast, the economic expansion that began in 1982 during Ronald Reagan’s presidency averaged 4.2% a year.
So Trump is wrong.
[b]ELECTION FRAUD[/b]
[u]TRUMP:[/u] “When I see thousands of ballots dumped in a garbage can and they happen to have my name on it? I’m not happy about it.” — from Miami.
[u]THE FACTS:[/u] Nobody has seen that. Contrary to Trump’s repeated, baseless attacks on voting security, voting and election fraud is rare. No cases involving thousands of ballots dumped in the trash have been reported in this election. [i]The Brennan Center for Justice in 2017 ranked the risk of ballot fraud at 0.00004% to 0.0009%, based on studies of past elections[/i].
[b]COVID-19[/b]
[u]TRUMP: [/u]"Just the other day they came out with a statement that 85% of the people that wear masks catch it so ... that’s what I heard and that’s what I saw.”
[u]THE FACTS:[/u] He's botching the study's findings. The study cited, by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, did not find that 85% of mask wearers catch COVID-19. If that were the case, the majority of Americans would be infected.
It found something quite different: that 85% of the small group of COVID-19 patients surveyed — about 150 on this question — reported they had worn a mask often or always around the time they would have become infected.
The group's exposure to potentially infected people in the community varied. Most reported shopping or being in a home with multiple people. But they were twice as likely to have eaten at a restaurant, where masks are set aside for the meal, than were uninfected people in a control group. Most studies have shown that wearing masks reduces the transmission of the virus by blocking respiratory droplets. Several studies have also shown that masks could offer some protection for the people who wear them.
[b]BEING A CRYBABY[/b]
[u]TRUMP,[/u] reacting to the news that people associated with the Biden campaign on a recent flight with Harris tested positive for COVID-19: “We extend our best wishes, which is more than they did to me, but that’s OK.”
[u]THE FACTS:[/u] That’s false.
Hours after Trump’s early morning announcement on Oct. 2 that he had tested positive, both Biden and Harris sent their wishes for a quick recovery via Twitter. [i]“Jill and I send our thoughts to President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump for a swift recovery,” Biden wrote. “We will continue to pray for the health and safety of the president and his family.”
AP[/i]
