Just the Facts, Ma'am

The Republican nominee (I refuse to use his name, just like I think we should refuse to use a mass shooting perpetrator's name) loves to spout off using social media, especially Twitter.  What he fails to appreciate, though, is that the internet allows anyone to fact-check anything he says in an instant.

Years ago, we listened to candidates' speeches and had to wait for the next issue of Time, Life, Newsweek, or the opinions of our local newspaper editor to tell us whether the candidate was being truthful or not.  This year, the Washington Post published "Fact-checking Donald Trump's acceptance speech at the 2016 RNC" on the morning of July 22, only hours after the actual speech.  

Turns out the nominee "cherry-picked" data to support his claims about the crime rate.  Ditto for Immigration.  On the issue of the economy since President Obama took office, he used out of date statistics (which actually reflected data during the Bush administration).  Fact checkers state that the nominee's statement that "America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world," is just flatly not true.  Likewise, his criticism of allowing refugees into the country because there is no way to screen them is also not true.

Now, I know some will say that the Washington Post is a liberal newspaper, so we'll see what some other fact-checking sites say.  Politifact is a fact-checking website that rates the accuracy of claims by elected officials and others who speak up in American politics.  

Rudy Giuliani characterized Clinton's proposed immigration policy as "open borders."  Politifact says this claim is False.

Jeff Sessions claimed there are about 350,000 people who succeed in crossing our borders illegally each year."  Politifact says this claim is False.

The nominee told Bill O'Reilly that he wanted the convention to be in Ohio; that he recommended Ohio.  Strange, because the RNC announced Cleveland back on July 8, 2014 when the nominee wasn't even a candidate!  Politifact says False.

Sean Duffy said "Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have left us with $19 trillion in debt."  First, about half of that debt was from before Obama took office.  Second, the Secretary of State has almost no role in deciding issues of fiscal policy.  Verdict: Mostly false.

As for accusations that President Obama "is a Muslim," Politifacts rated this "Pants On Fire!"

Had enough yet?  I recommend everyone bookmark a fact-checking site and do your research before arriving at a conclusion about whether or not a candidate is telling the truth.  

TGFTI - Thank God For The Internet