“Nobody’s been tougher on Russia than Donald Trump.”
This is misleading.
Whether Mr. Trump has been “tougher” than any other president is subjective. But it’s worth noting that observers of American relations with Russia point to a disconnect between aggressive policies enacted by the Trump administration and not-so-tough language from Mr. Trump himself.
Withdrawing American troops from Syria, where Mr. Balzer said Russia has accused a humanitarian relief group of being terrorists, “hardly sends a ‘tough’ message.”
“In September, just before the election, the F.B.I. told President Obama about possible Russian interference and he did nothing because he thought that Hillary Clinton, crooked Hillary was going to win that’s why he did nothing. He did nothing.”
After the election, Mr. Obama imposed sanctions on Russia and ejected from the United States 35 people who were suspected of being Russian intelligence operatives.
The wall
“We are building the wall. We’re going to have over 400 miles of wall built by the end of next year.”
This is exaggerated.
Mr. Trump is once again mixing projects to replace existing barriers with construction of entirely new sectors of a wall along the southwestern border — and inflating the mileage.
Despite dozens of repetitions, this claim remains false. The $1.5 trillion tax cut, enacted in December 2017, ranks below at least half a dozen others .. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/29/us/politics/fact-check-trump-tax-cuts.html?module=inline .. by several metrics. The 1981 Reagan tax cut is the largest as a percentage of the economy and by its reduction to federal revenue. The 2012 Obama cut amounted to the largest cut in inflation-adjusted dollars: $321 billion a year.
“We are taking billions and billions of dollars in and — remember this, and you know it as well as I do — we have never taken in 10 cents from China. We would lose $500 billion a year with China.”
“The unemployment rate is the lowest rate it’s been in over 51 years. Think of that. And as I said before about African-American, I now say also about Hispanic-American and Asian-American unemployment have reached the lowest rates in the history of our country”
Terminally ill patients would “go all over the world looking for a cure. Because the F.D.A. would not approve what we call Right to Try. What a beautiful name, right to try. After 44 years, I got it approved.”
This is misleading.
A federal program known as compassionate use, or expanded access, has been in place since the 1970s. It allows patients with a serious disease or condition to obtain experimental medicines; the Food and Drug Administration says it authorizes 99 percent of the requests for expanded access that it receives.
Mr. Trump did sign a law last year that allows patients and doctors to ask drug companies directly for access to the experimental drugs, rather than wait for approval by the agency.
“For the first time in half a century, we’ve reduced the price of prescription drugs.”
This is misleading.
Multiple analyses have shown that drug prices are still increasing, albeit at a slower pace than in previous years .. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/26/us/politics/trump-nra-speech-factcheck.html?module=inline . For example, Rx Savings Solutions, a company that advises employers on how to reduce drug costs, found that drug companies increased prices on more than 2,800 medicines in the first quarter of 2019. The average increase was 8.6 percent, compared with 11.3 percent in the same period last year.
Energy and Environment
“We’ve ended the last administration’s cruel and heartless war on American energy. What they were doing to our energy should never be forgotten. The United States is now the number one producer of oil and natural gas anywhere in the world.”
“We have among the cleanest and sharpest — crystal clean, you’ve heard me say it, I want it crystal clean — air and water anywhere on Earth.”
This is exaggerated.
The United States ranked 27th out of 180 countries .. https://epi.envirocenter.yale.edu/epi-country-report/USA .. in an environmental performance review, compiled by Yale and Columbia University researchers in collaboration with the World Economic Forum in 2018. (Switzerland topped the list.) The index placed the United States at 10th for air quality and 29th for water and sanitation.
Linda Qiu is a fact-check reporter, based in Washington. She came to The Times in 2017 from the fact-checking service PolitiFact. @ylindaqiu
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