VERIFIED: In his farewell speech Donald Trump declared several falsehoods
Upon his release, President Donald Trump claimed credit for what he did not do and distorted his record on jobs, taxes, the pandemic and more. His farewell speech was actually riddled with lies.
Moreover, in declaring that the Americans were "horrified" by the assault on Capitol Hill, he ignored the encouragement he had given to the crowd before the riot and the praise he had given to the riot. attackers while they were still looting the seat of government.
Here is an overview of his statements:
COVID-19:
TRUMP: “Another administration would have taken three, four, five, maybe even ten years to develop a vaccine. We did it in nine months. "
THE FACTS: In fact, the administration has not developed any vaccine. Pharmaceutical companies have done it. And one of the two US companies that developed the vaccines currently in use did not take government funds.
Mr. Trump's claim that another administration took years to develop the vaccine is hard to believe. COVID-19 vaccines were developed very quickly, but other countries have also contributed. A vaccine against the coronavirus is not a singular achievement of the United States, let alone of the Trump administration.
The American drug maker Pfizer developed its vaccine in partnership with BioNTech in Germany. The company did not use federal money, but it benefited from an early pledge from Washington to purchase large quantities if the vaccine was effective. A vaccine from Moderna from the United States is also widely used.
British AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine is used in several countries, and vaccines from China and Russia are also used, but on a more limited basis. Globally, more than a dozen potential vaccines are in the final stages of testing.
VETERANS
TRUMP: "We made VA Choice"
THE FACTS: No, he didn’t embrace the Veterans Choice program. It was former President Barack Obama who did it. Mr. Trump has broadened it. The program allows veterans to obtain medical care outside the veterans system under certain conditions. President Trump has repeatedly tried to take credit for Mr. Obama's success.
TAXES
TRUMP: "We have adopted the largest package of tax cuts and reforms in American history."
THE FACTS: Its tax cuts don't come close to even the biggest in US history.
This is a tax cut of US $ 1.5 trillion over ten years. As a proportion of the economy as a whole, a tax cut of this size ranks 12th, according to the Committee on a Responsible Federal Budget. The 1981 cut by President Ronald Reagan is the largest, followed by the 1945 tax cut that funded World War II.
The post-Reagan tax cuts are also among the most historically significant: the cuts by President George W. Bush in the early 2000s and their renewal by Barack Obama a decade later.
ECONOMY
TRUMP: "We have also built the largest economy in the history of the world."
THE FACTS: No, the numbers show it wasn't the biggest in U.S. history. And he is the first president since Herbert Hoover - during the Great Depression - to step down with fewer jobs than when he started out.
Did the United States have a historic number of jobs before the pandemic? Of course, the population had increased. The 3.5% unemployment rate before the recession was at its lowest level in half a century, but the percentage of people working or looking for a job was still below the high of 2000.
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Romer examines Donald Trump's record of economic growth. Growth under President Trump was on average 2.48% per year before the pandemic, barely higher than the 2.41% gains achieved during Barack Obama's second term. In contrast, the economic expansion that began in 1982 under the presidency of Ronald Reagan generated an average growth of 4.2% per year.
TRUMP: “We kicked off job creation in the United States and hit all-time low unemployment for African Americans, Hispanics, Asian Americans, women - almost everyone.”
THE FACTS: It wasn't a raise. Job creation actually slowed in 2017, Donald Trump's first year in office, to around 2 million, down from nearly 2.5 million in 2016, Mr. Obama's last year in office.
Low unemployment rates refer to a pre-pandemic economy that no longer exists. The pandemic has cost the US economy 10 million jobs and made Mr. Trump the first president since Herbert Hoover to oversee a net loss of jobs. The United States currently has about 2.8 million fewer jobs than when Donald Trump was inaugurated and lost 140,000 just in December. And the job losses have disproportionately affected African Americans, Hispanics and women.
INSURRECTION IN THE CAPITOL
TRUMP: “All Americans were horrified by the assault on our Capitol. Political violence is an attack on everything we hold dear as Americans. It can never be tolerated. ”
THE FACTS: That perhaps sums up the reaction of most Americans, but the president failed to say that he himself stoked the ire of his supporters before the riot.
For months, Donald Trump falsely claimed that the November election was stolen from him, then invited supporters to Washington and sent them to Capitol Hill with the urge to "fight fiercely."
With the uprising still ongoing, Donald Trump posted a video telling them "to go home now", while repeating that "it was a fraudulent election." "We love you. You are very special, ”he added.
The House of Representatives voted for the impeachment of Donald Trump, accusing him of instigating an insurgency. Republican Senate Leader Mitch McConnell, a political ally of Mr. Trump for four years, said Tuesday that supporters of President Trump had been "fed on lies" and "provoked by the President and other powerful people."
ISLAMIC STATE ARMED GROUP
TRUMP: "We have annihilated the ISIS caliphate."
THE FACTS: His suggestion of total defeat is misleading because ISIS is still a threat.
The Islamic State armed group was defeated in Iraq in 2017, then lost its last strongholds in Syria in March 2019, marking the end of the self-proclaimed caliphate of extremists. Yet extremist sleeper cells have continued to launch attacks in Iraq and Syria in recent weeks and are believed to be responsible for targeted killings against local officials and members of the Syrian Democratic Forces.
The continued attacks are a sign that the militant group is taking advantage of governments that are concerned about the pandemic and its economic consequences. The virus adds to long-standing concerns among security experts and UN experts that the group is in the process of arranging a comeback.
