Trump Revives Familiar Falsehoods in CPAC Speech

Former President Donald J. Trump, in his first public look since leaving the White House, mounted inaccurate assaults towards his successor and revived acquainted falsehoods in a speech on Sunday on the Conservative Political Action Conference.

In a speech replete with false and deceptive claims, Mr. Trump once more repeated the lie that he had received the 2020 election, falsely claiming that President Biden and the Democrats had “just lost the White House.”

Here’s a reality examine.

What Mr. Trump Said

“We brought illegal crossings to historic lows.”

False. Apprehensions of unauthorized migrants are the perfect gauge of unlawful border crossings. Under Mr. Trump, there have been 200,000 apprehensions on the southern border in the 2020 fiscal yr; simply over 850,000 in 2019; just below 400,000 in 2018; and about 300,000 in 2017. None of these numbers are unprecedented.

The determine for the 2020 fiscal yr — throughout which a pandemic started — was the bottom because the Seventies, whereas the figures for Mr. Trump’s first two years in workplace have been on par with the numbers beneath President Barack Obama.

what Mr. Trump stated

“First Fauci said you don’t need masks, no masks, no good. Then all of a sudden, now he wants double masks.”

This is deceptive/exaggerated. Initial authorities steering on mask-wearing was muddled, however well being companies promoted the follow lengthy earlier than Mr. Biden took workplace.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in the early days of the pandemic that it didn’t suggest that most people put on masks. Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, the nation’s main infectious illness specialist, stated final March that “there’s no reason to be walking around with a mask,” as a result of it might result in shortages for well being care staff, however he was “not against” the follow.

But by April, when the virus had unfold extra quickly throughout the nation, Dr. Fauci and the C.D.C. had begun to encourage sporting fabric masks. (Mr. Trump, in the meantime, eschewed sporting a masks and mocked Mr. Biden for doing so into the autumn.)

Dr. Fauci has beforehand stated that Mr. Trump misrepresented his remarks, noting that he had been constantly “begging” folks to put on masks for months.

what Mr. Trump stated

“He has effectively ordered a shutdown of ICE, halting virtually all deportations. Everyone, murderers, everybody.”

False. The Biden administration ordered a 100-day pause on deportations, nevertheless it didn’t apply to “murderers” and everyone. In a memo in February, Immigration and Customs Enforcement stated it could “focus the agency’s civil immigration enforcement and removal resources on threats to national security, border security and public safety.” That would come with anybody convicted of an aggravated felony, similar to homicide.

Moreover, deporting immigrants will not be the company’s sole operate. As ICE has scaled again removing operations, it has continued to conduct investigations into different criminality.

what Mr. Trump stated

“Border security is just one of the many issues on which the new administration has already betrayed the American people. He didn’t talk about this stuff. I debated him. He wasn’t talking about this. He wasn’t — what he signed with those executive orders, they weren’t things that were discussed.”

This is deceptive. Immigration coverage was briefly mentioned in the course of the second presidential debate. Mr. Biden was not requested about and didn’t point out most of his proposals, however Mr. Trump is incorrect that Mr. Biden’s immigration government orders are a shock. In reality, Mr. Trump explicitly criticized and ran ads attacking these very proposals.

Mr. Trump repeatedly warned of — and infrequently mischaracterized — Mr. Biden’s plans to extend refugee admissions, place a moratorium on deportations and create a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants.

what Mr. Trump stated

“And when I asked the questions on television, on the debate, Chris Wallace in this case and others refused to let him answer.”

This is deceptive. During the first presidential debate, Mr. Trump repeatedly interrupted Mr. Wallace, the Fox News anchor and moderator, to ask Mr. Biden questions, after which repeatedly interrupted Mr. Biden as he tried to reply them — prompting Mr. Wallace to intervene in a number of cases. But none of these questions have been about immigration coverage.

Mr. Trump interrupted to ask Mr. Biden about Roe v. Wade; whether or not he agreed with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont on well being care; whether or not he was in “favor of law and order”; and about packing the Supreme Court, the H1N1 flu pandemic and his son Hunter. Mr. Biden made an try and reply all these questions.

what Mr. Trump stated

“With me at the top of the ticket, not a single Republican member of Congress lost their race for the first time in decades.”

False. While no Republican incumbent in the House misplaced their race to a Democrat, Republican incumbents misplaced two Senate seats in the November elections whereas Mr. Trump was a presidential candidate. Martha McSally of Arizona and Cory Gardner of Colorado misplaced their re-election bids to Mark Kelly and John Hickenlooper.

Other claims

Mr. Trump repeated a variety of claims The New York Times has beforehand debunked:

He falsely stated that “nobody knows anything about” refugees and “we don’t have crime records, we don’t have health records” for them. (Background checks for refugees take one to 2 years to finish.)
He claimed that the Keystone XL pipeline created “42,000 great-paying jobs.” (This is an estimate of the non permanent jobs the pipeline would assist in two years.)
He misleadingly claimed that Mr. Biden reversed his place from opposing fracking in the course of the Democratic main to saying “we love fracking” in the course of the common election. (Mr. Biden has constantly stated he opposes fracking on public lands.)
He falsely blamed “the windmill calamity” for blackouts in Texas, and criticized windmills for killing birds. (Wind energy will not be the chief purpose for the facility outages, and birds die much more steadily from collisions with buildings and vehicles than with windmills.)
He misleadingly claimed that the United States turned the highest “energy superpower on earth” beneath his watch. (The United States turned the world’s top oil producer in 2013 and overtook Russia as the world’s leading gas producer way back to 2009.)
He falsely claimed credit score for the “strongest economy in the history of the world.” (Metrics didn’t present a historic report.)
He misrepresented tariffs as “taking billions and billions of dollars from China.” (Tariffs are paid for by American shoppers, not China.)
He claimed “we used to lose $504 billion trade deficit with China.” (This was a reference to the commerce deficit in items — which doesn’t embrace providers and isn’t a “loss” — with China, which grew to $538 billion beneath his watch.)
He falsely claimed that undocumented immigrants and lifeless individuals are voting in “voluminous” numbers. (There is not any proof of this.)
He falsely claimed that there have been “more votes than people” in Detroit and Pennsylvania. (This will not be true of both location.)