As August ended, a new Donald Trump emerged. Coached by his third campaign management team, he stayed on message, read from a teleprompter and focused on policy. It lasted about a month.
After he lied on Sept. 16 that he was not the person responsible for the birtherism campaign to delegitimize Barack Obama’s presidency, POLITICO chose to spend a week fact-checking Trump. We fact-checked Hillary Clinton over the same time.
We subjected every statement made by both the Republican and Democratic candidates — in speeches, in interviews and on Twitter — to our magazine’s rigorous fact-checking process. The conclusion is inescapable: Trump’s mishandling of facts and propensity for exaggeration so greatly exceed Clinton’s as to make the comparison almost ludicrous.
Though few statements match the audacity of his statement about his role in questioning Obama’s citizenship, Trump has built a cottage industry around stretching the truth. According to POLITICO’s five-day analysis, Trump averaged about one falsehood every three minutes and 15 seconds over nearly five hours of remarks.
In raw numbers, that’s 87 erroneous statements in five days.
Trump’s misrepresentations range from false pronouncements (he again wrongly said he opposed the war in Iraq before it began) to the petty (he insisted Clinton had copied him by holding rallies with her plane in the background and insinuated she was “sleeping” when she held no public events).
He contradicted his own policy on providing health care to the poor, overstated the ad-spending discrepancy between his campaign and Clinton’s and exaggerated the size of his primary victories and polling leads.
Clinton is no paragon of truth-telling either. Her misrepresentations, while less frequent, tend to involve the transgressions she’s made over her long career in public life — from her handling of classified information as secretary of state to her campaign’s obfuscation surrounding her health — rather than policy substance. We explore her smaller file of falsehoods here.
Certainly, Trump’s voluminous file is partly due to the fact that he simply talks more. His rallies this week were longer, his media appearances more regular. Clinton took two days off the trail for debate prep. But that doesn’t come close to accounting for the discrepancy.
Though Clinton spoke for less than half as long as Trump, extrapolating the frequency of her misstatements suggests that even if she, too, spoke for as many hours as Trump, he’d still surpass her nearly four times over.
In one respect, Trump has made strides: citing primary sources. Trump, perhaps chastened by previous fact-checks, tethered to his teleprompter or knee-deep in debate prep, has more regularly begun citing Pew, think tank reports and Census figures.
Some metrics on Trump’s statements this week:
Number of appearances: six speeches, one town hall, seven TV interviews, zero press availabilities, 37 tweets
Combined length of remarks (speeches, interviews): four hours, 43 minutes
Raw number of misstatements, exaggerations, falsehoods: 87
Rate: One untruth every 3.25 minutes
Jason Miller, Trump’s senior communications advisor, responded in an email: “There is a coordinated effort by the media elites and Hillary Clinton to shamelessly push their propaganda and distract from Crooked Hillary’s lies and flailing campaign. All of these ‘fact-check’ questions can be easily verified, but that’s not what blog sites like Politico want people to believe. Mr. Trump is standing with the people of America and against the rigged system insiders, and it’s driving the media crazy. We will continue to speak the truth and communicate directly with the American people on issues they care most about, and we won’t let the dishonest, liberal media intimidate us from speaking candidly and from the heart. A Donald J. Trump presidency will make America great again.”
Here is a week’s worth of Trump’s factual transgressions.
ECONOMY:
1. “The reason I do manufacture things overseas — I have to do this, there is no choice, because [other countries] have devalued their currency so much that our companies are out of business for the most part.” (Sept. 20, Fox 8 interview)
Manufacturing is diminishing as a share of the economy, but it’s hardly vanishing. The sector constituted 11.8 percent of GDP in the first quarter of 2016. In the first quarter of 2006, it made up 13.1 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis.
2. “Excessive regulation costs our economy $2 trillion a year. Can you believe that? Two trillion dollars a year.” (Sept. 21, Toledo, Ohio, rally)
The $2 trillion estimate comes from a report from the conservative Competitive Enterprise Institute. It’s widely quoted, but independent fact–checkers have questioned its methodology. Additionally, the figure excludes any benefits derived from the effect of regulations. The Cleveland Plain Dealer notes that car seat belts, for example, are included as a cost. But the lives/money saved as a result is not used as an offset, even though the federal government has estimated the benefits of regulations outstripped the costs.
3. “The World Trade Organization — disaster for us.” (Sept. 20, Kenansville, North Carolina, rally)
This is an oversimplification. The organization adjudicates countries economic claims against each other, and the U.S. has both won and lost cases in front of the body — including in February, when the U.S. won a big decision against rules in India that discriminated against foreign solar power technology.
4. “This NAFTA is a one-way street right out of our country. Our jobs go right out of our country, our companies. It’s a one-way street for our companies and our jobs to get out of here. Nobody comes in. Did you ever hear of NAFTA coming in and bringing jobs? Did you ever hear of a new company opening in upstate New York because of NAFTA?” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends)
According to the U.S. Trade Representative’s office, “U.S. exports to Canada and Mexico support more than three million American jobs.” NAFTA made it easier to sell U.S. goods in those countries, meaning that some — and certainly not zero — of those 3 million jobs are a result of the trade agreement.
5-6. “Hillary Clinton is raising your taxes, it’s a very substantial tax increase.” (Sept. 20 High Point, North Carolina, rally, and a similar statement at least one other time)
Clinton has not released the full details of her tax plan, but she has sworn off tax hikes for households earning less than $250,000 a year. The vast majority of tax increases she proposes levying affect the highest earners.
7. “Hillary Clinton wants to approve the Trans-Pacific Partnership; that deal will be a disaster for North Carolina, for every state. Your state.” (Sept. 20, High Point, North Carolina, rally)
CNN tracked 45 instances in which Clinton supported the TPP, including in 2012 when she called it the “gold standard” of trade deals. But facing a challenge to her left from Bernie Sanders, Clinton this year said she opposed it and would continue to as president. The trade pact’s economic impacts are hotly debated, with some arguing it will hurt domestic workers while others arguing it will spur further exports and economic growth.
8. “Michigan is getting killed. Ohio is getting killed. A lot of states are getting killed, including by the way, North Carolina.” (Sept. 20, Kenansville, North Carolina, rally)
From January 2009 (when President Obama took office) to last month, Michigan’s unemployment rate fell from 11.6 percent to 4.5 percent, Ohio’s rate went from 8.8 percent to 4.7 percent and North Carolina’s rate declined from 9.7 percent to 4.6 percent.
9. “We have a trade deficit with China of $500 billion a year. … We have a $500 billion trade deficit with China.” (Sept. 20, Kenansville, North Carolina, rally)
The U.S. trade deficit with China peaked at $366 billion in 2015, $134 billion less than Trump claims.
Trump’s campaign responded by saying that a roughly $400 billion trade deficit would reach $500 billion if combined with Chinese theft of U.S. intellectual property.
10. “We’re keeping jobs, they’re bad jobs. We’re losing our good jobs.” (Sept. 20, Kenansville, North Carolina, rally)
The average hourly wage for American workers was $23.06 five years ago in August 2011; last month it was $25.73. The relatively slow pace of wage increases is a frequent criticism of the economy under Obama — and it’s spread unevenly across the workforce — but it’s not the broad collapse of good jobs that Trump is portraying.
11. “They’re negotiating to move out of different states. And our politicians do nothing about it.” (Sept. 20, Kenansville, North Carolina, rally)
Politicians, including Obama, have pushed for tax breaks for companies to give them incentives to build new manufacturing facilities in the U.S.
12. “My entire economic plan — tax relief, regulatory relief, energy reform and trade reform — will create at least 25 million new jobs over the next 10 years, assuming an average growth rate of 3.5 percent.” (Sept. 22, Pittsburgh speech)
An analysis by The New York Times concluded Trump’s numbers rely on a set of tremendously optimistic scenarios: There aren’t projected to be enough people in the labor force to fill as many new jobs as Trump is promising to create, and achieving that growth rate would also require a major increase in labor productivity.
13. “China’s treating us like we’re a child the way they do. They charge tax but we don’t charge tax.” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview)
Chinese agricultural products face a 2.5 percent tariff in the United States while non-agricultural goods get taxed at 2.9 percent, according to World Trade Organization statistics.
Trump’s campaign responded that he was referring to China’s Value Added Tax.
14. “According to the Institute for Energy Research, lifting the restrictions on American energy, including shale production, will accomplish the following: increase GDP by more than $100 billion each year [and] add over 500,000 new jobs annually.” (Sept. 23, Pittsburgh speech)
This is likely the most rosy estimate of the economic benefits of new coal, oil and gas development, as it’s done by a group funded by the American Petroleum Institute and the Charles Koch Institute. The study itself also provides no accounting of the environmental costs of such development, including no mention of climate change.
15. “These unilateral [Obama administration climate change] plans will increase monthly electric bills by double digits without any measurable improvement in climate whatsoever.” (Sept. 23, Pittsburgh speech)
The nonpartisan Energy Information Administration estimated the administration’s “Clean Power Plan” would result in a 3 percent increase in electricity costs and an additional 20 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2030, relative to the rule not being implemented.
16. Clinton “plans a $1.3 trillion tax hike.” (Sept. 22, Pittsburgh speech)
Trump is quoting an analysis of Clinton’s tax plan by the conservative American Action Forum. The nonpartisan Tax Foundation estimated her plan would increase revenue by $498 billion over 10 years.
17. “Every energy dollar that isn’t harvested here in America is harvested instead in a foreign country.” (Sept. 22, Pittsburgh speech)
Decreased domestic energy supplies could raise global prices and spur foreign production, it’s not a 1-to-1 relationship. And indeed, many foreign oil producers are already capped out on production or, in the case of Saudi Arabia, intentionally producing below capacity to influence world energy prices.
Miller responded: “If a dollar is being invested in a country, but isn’t being invested in the United States, then logically it is being invested into another country.”
18. “Hillary Clinton’s war on energy will cost our economy $5 trillion at least,” while Trump would “scrap the $5 trillion Obama-Clinton Climate Action Plan.” (Sept. 22, Pittsburgh speech)
Even the conservative Heritage Foundation pegs the cost of the Climate Action Plan at $1.47 trillion of lost national income by 2030, not $5 trillion.
The Trump campaign responded: “Mr. Trump is fully committed to ending the Obama – Clinton administration’s addiction to frivolous spending and making our economy great again.”
HEALTH CARE
19. “Premiums in Ohio have increased more than 80 percent since Obamacare was passed. 80 percent.” (Sept. 21, Toledo, Ohio, rally)
Trump’s claim is likely based on a state insurance department report on an 80 percent premium rise for individual plans, but that’s misleading because it ignores the vast majority of people who are employed through their employer or through the government. It also ignores that Obamacare provides subsidies for low- and middle-income insurance buyers.
20. “Premiums have gone up almost $5,000 nationwide since 2009.” (Sept. 21, Toledo, Ohio, rally)
Trump’s claim on national premiums is also misleading. Premiums — across all plans, not just individual ones most affected by Obamacare — have climbed since 2009, but at slower rates than they have under Obama’s predecessors. There are many reasons for this — it’s not all because of (or in spite of) Obamacare — but the claim ignores the fact that premiums have been rising relatively quickly for far longer than Obama’s presidency, as well as that their rise has slowed in recent years.
21. “More than two-thirds of our nation’s counties, think of this, have lost insurers. Every day I’m reading, another one left. All the big ones, they’re all leaving.” (Sept. 21, Toledo, Ohio, rally)
Trump appears to be mischaracterizing recent reports projecting a decline in coverage options on Obamacare health insurance exchanges — and the likelihood that a third of all counties could function under single-insurer exchanges. But the report doesn’t address what percent of counties are seeing insurers depart. There have, however, been high profile exits from the Obamacare exchanges, including UnitedHealthcare, Humana and Aetna, which validate Trump’s claim about big insurers leaving.
22. “We’re going to replace government-run Obamacare with reforms that put patients first. These reforms include expanding access to popular savings accounts, empowering Americans to shop for their insurance so that they can really have great choice right across state lines and to block granting and, really important, Medicaid to the states so they can design innovative solutions.” (Sept. 21, Toledo, Ohio, rally)
Trump’s call for Medicaid block grants to states seems to contradict his earlier statements on how he would provide insurance to people who couldn’t afford it. In his appearance on Dr. Oz, he said Medicaid would cover people who couldn’t afford health insurance, but that would be near impossible under block grants, as they cap the cost of Medicaid spending within a state.
23. “Ohio has lost one-third of its manufacturing jobs since the Bill Clinton-signed NAFTA disaster, which Hillary supported totally.” (Sept. 21, Toledo, Ohio, rally)
The numbers are correct, but the cause is in dispute. The Bureau of Labor Statistics has found that Ohio manufacturing jobs declined from just under 1 million to fewer than 700,000 between 1990 and 2015. Economists are divided over NAFTA’s role in the decline of manufacturing, as well as its potential economic benefits. In December of 1993, when then-President Bill Clinton signed NAFTA into law, unemployment in Ohio was at 6.4 percent. Today, the state’s rate is 4.7 percent.
SECURITY
24-29. “[ISIL is] very strong. … These were started by Hillary Clinton and her policies and Obama when they got out of Iraq this is what happened. This is the remnant of that.” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview, and five other times.)
First, the obvious: Clinton did not start ISIS. The group’s founders include Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who founded predecessor group Al Qaeda in Iraq and Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, ISIL’s current leader.
Nor did all of it happen “on Hillary Clinton’s watch.” The group’s roots trace back to 2004, years before she became secretary of state. And while Clinton left the administration in early 2013, many of ISIL’s highest-profile attacks, atrocities and military victories happened after.
Clinton’s role in the rise of ISIS is more complicated. As secretary of state, she was a prominent foreign policy voice in the Obama administration. By the manner in which the administration withdrew U.S. forces from Iraq, it contributed to a power vacuum that allowed ISIL to accumulate territory in Iraq and Syria. The withdrawal, however, was also dictated in a Status of Forces Agreement negotiated by the George W. Bush administration. The instability that allowed terrorist groups, including ISIS, to quickly amass power and territory may also be linked to the Bush administration’s original decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and topple Saddam Hussein; that decision was supported with a vote of New York Sen. Hillary Clinton.
30. “President Obama did a terrible thing the way he got us out of the war. … He got us out the wrong way and ISIS formed. Great job, President Obama.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally)
ISIS’s roots can be traced back to 2004, when Barack Obama was an Illinois state Senator.
31. “We’re not knocking them. We’re hitting them every once in awhile. We’re hitting em in certain places. We’re being very gentle about it.” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview)
As of Sept. 20, the Defense Department has disclosed 11,697 strikes in Iraq and Syria against ISIL — 6,704 in Iraq and 4,983 in Syria.
32-36. “My opponent won’t even say the words radical Islamic terror.” (Sept. 20 rally, High Point, North Carolina, and similar claims at least four other times.)
In June, Clinton broke from President Obama and used the term “radical Islamism” to describe an attack on an Orlando night club. “Whether you call it radical jihadism or radical Islamism, I’m happy to say either. I think they mean the same thing,” she said on CNN in June.
37. “You buy magazines and they tell you how to make the same bombs that you saw. … But how do you allow magazines to be sold — these are magazines that tell you, from step one, go to the store and buy such-and-such, right?” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview)
Trump appears to be referencing the Islamic State’s main propaganda magazine, Dabiq, which can be viewed online. That magazine does not appear to be available for purchase in the U.S., however.
38-39. “This is something [Clinton] said today, that it’s my strong opposition to these people that’s a recruiting tool.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally, and at least one other time)
Clinton has said that Trump’s rhetoric and policy proposals, including his proposed ban on Muslim immigration, are helping ISIL recruit members by portraying the United States as anti-Muslim. Both ISIL and Al Shabaab, an al Qaeda affiliate in Somalia, have featured Trump in propaganda videos. Clinton has not criticized Trump’s opposition to ISIL, and she too has condemned the group.
40. “Obama and Clinton have toppled regimes, displaced millions of people, then opened door to ISIS to enter our country.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally)
About 434,000 people have been displaced in Libya, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center. Muammar Gaddafi is the only leader who was deposed after direct U.S. military intervention under Obama.
41. “Right now the world has no respect for our country. The world has no respect for our president whatsoever.” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview)
A 2015 Pew survey of 39 countries found a median of 69 percent of people in those countries had a favorable opinion of the United States.
Trump’s Miller responded that the Republican’s statement was true. “Yes, fact,” he wrote.
42. “I was against going into the war in Iraq. … I opposed going into Iraq, unlike Hillary Clinton.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally)
Trump told Howard Stern he supported the invasion in 2002. Asked by the radio host if he was for the invasion, Trump responded: “Yeah, I guess so. I wish the first time it was done correctly.” Clinton, in her role as a U.S. senator, voted for the Iraq invasion in 2002.
Trump’s Miller responded that the Republican had been opposed to the invasion “from the very beginning” and cited news reports dated after the start of the war, and after the interview with Stern.
REFUGEES/IMMIGRATION
43. “Our local police, they know who a lot of these people are. They’re afraid to do anything about it because they don’t want to be accused of profiling and they don’t want to be accused of all sorts of things.” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview)
There are no publicly known instances of local police knowing where Jihadi terrorists are but opting not to act on that information. Trump did not cite any specific examples.
The Trump campaign responded by citing a Washington Times report that the Homeland Security Advisory Council advised law enforcement to avoid using words that might offend Muslim communities and a CBS report that the Fort Hood shooter was not investigated before than incident because of concerns about political correctness.
44-47. “All together, Hillary Clinton’s plan would bring in 650,000 refugees in her first term alone with no effective way to screen or vet them. Her plan would cost $400 billion in terms of lifetime welfare and entitlement costs.” (Sept. 20, High Point, North Carolina, rally, and similar statements at least three other times)
Clinton has proposed resettling up to a total of 65,000 refugees, one-tenth of the 650,000 Trump says she’s proposing. The $400 billion figure likely comes from a statement by Trump ally and Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who assumed Clinton’s goal was 155,000 refugees annually. Sessions used statistics from the Heritage Foundation that argued 10,000 refugees would cost $130 million per year to calculate a total cost of more than $400 billion.
48-49. “We’ve been letting in people by the thousands, the tens of thousands. … Just last week, Obama said more than 100,000 people were going to come in from Syria. … They can’t be properly vetted. There’s no way. … Thousands of people are pouring into our country and we have no idea what we’re doing.” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview, and a similar statement at least one other time)
The Obama administration in September said it intends to bring in 110,000 refugees over the next year. That number applies to all refugees, however, rather than just those from Syria. Last month, the administration let in the 10,000th Syrian refugee of the current fiscal year. Refugees are also rigorously screened for security, including checks from international organizations, the National Counterterrorism Center, the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the State Department.
50. “Israel does it [racial profiling], and Israel does it very successfully.” (Sept. 19, The O’Reilly Factor interview)
Politifact rated this half-true, concluding that Israel does use racial profiling but it isn’t the reason the country has strong counterterrorism.
51. “As secretary of state, she allowed thousands of criminal aliens to be released into our communities because their home countries wouldn’t take them back.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally)
Detentions and deportations are the responsibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is part of the Department of Homeland Security, not the State Department. There is a federal law that allows the secretary of state to withhold visas for citizens from countries that refuse to accept deportees, but it’s unclear whether ICE ever asked the State Department to intervene during Clinton’s tenure.
52. “We’re presiding over something that the world has not seen. The level of evil is unbelievable.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally)
Judging one “level of evil” against another is subjective, but other groups in recent history have without any question engaged in as widespread killing of civilians as ISIS.
53. “I never said the term ‘Muslim,’ you did. I’m saying you’re going to profile people who maybe look suspicious. I didn’t say they were Muslim or not.” (Sept. 19, The O’Reilly Factor interview)
Just moments earlier, Trump had told O’Reilly that the country had “no choice” but to profile Arab and Muslim men. Politifact noted that Trump has repeatedly broached the subject and characterized profiling of Muslims as “common sense.” And he also has routinely discussed surveilling mosques. Trump’s call for a shutdown of Muslim immigration to the United States isn’t specifically about profiling by police, but it’s a policy that similarly targets people of a specific religion for extra scrutiny and restriction.
54. “The detainees being released from Gitmo are returning to the battlefield. Many of those detainees are returning to the battlefield and some immediately.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally)
The truth of this claim depends on your definition of “many.” Since Obama took office, seven of the 144 released detainees were confirmed as engaging in terrorist activities, and another 12 were suspected of the same, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.
55. “The guy over the chicken stand brought a lot of litigation against different people.” (Sept. 19, The O’Reilly Factor interview)
Trump was referring to Ahmad Khan Rahami, who was arrested on suspicion of placing bombs in New York and New Jersey. News reports have identified only one lawsuit by the Rahami family, not by Ahmad Rahami himself, alleging discrimination by local police.
56. “We’re going to build the wall. Mexico’s going to pay for the wall, 100 percent.” (Sept. 20, High Point, North Carolina, rally
The U.S. has no legal recourse to force Mexico to pay for a border wall. Multiple Mexican officials have said the country wouldn’t pay for any of it, and current President Enrique Peña Nieto, who met with Trump this year, said there’s “no way” Mexico will pay for it.
57-58. “My opponent has the most open-doors policy of anyone ever to seek the office of presidency. It’s not even close.” (Sept. 20, High Point, North Carolina, rally and at least one other similar claim)
Clinton’s policies are actually squarely in the mainstream of Democratic politics. She’s called specifically for securing the border but emphasizes deportations of criminal undocumented immigrants rather than mass deportation as Trump has advocated. Per Politifact, Clinton has consistently made a case for secure borders.
59. “It’s just a plain fact that our current immigration system makes no real attempt to determine the views of the people entering our country.” (Sept. 20, High Point, North Carolina, rally)
Various fact checks note that immigration processes are lengthy and include detailed interviews. Some forms include questions about membership in terrorist organizations. But critics of Trump’s “extreme vetting” proposal note that it’s fraught with subjectivity and vulnerable to people who misrepresent their beliefs — in other words, unlikely to be enforceable.
HILLARY CLINTON
60-62. “I don’t know if you saw. Her campaign, 50 to 1 in advertising, 50 to 1, and I think we’re actually winning. I actually think we’re winning.” (Sept. 21, Toledo, Ohio, rally, and similar claims at least two other times)
Trump is referring to an ABC News report that Clinton is slated to outspend him by a 53-to-1 margin on television ads in Florida between now and Election Day. At the current levels of all national advertising, Trump’s right that Clinton has the lion’s share, but he’s overstating it. POLITICO’s Steve Shepard broke it down Thursday, finding a seven-to-one ad spending edge for the Democrat. Also, polls still show a close contest with Trump gaining ground but Clinton holding an edge in swing states.
63. “Ever notice — all she does is attack me, constantly attack, attack?” (Sept. 20, High Point, North Carolina, rally)
Clinton does relentlessly attack Trump, but she also often gives policy addresses on what she wants to do as president, as well as — as she did this week — give her thoughts on current events and how the country should handle them.
64. “Do people notice Hillary is copying my airplane rallies — she puts the plane behind her like I have been doing from the beginning.” (Sept. 20, Twitter)
The imagery of presidential candidates using planes as backdrops for campaign events is voluminous.
Trump’s campaign responded: “Mr. Trump never claimed that he invented the tactic of using airplanes/airports as backdrops for events. He’s merely pointing out that her press availability on Monday was the first time that we’ve been able to identify her using an airplane as a backdrop for an event this presidential cycle. This comes after a string of events where Mr. Trump used his plane as a backdrop.
65. “Hillary Clinton is taking the day off again, she needs the rest. Sleep well Hillary — see you at the debate!” (Sept. 20, Twitter)
Hillary Clinton did, in fact, take Tuesday off the campaign trail, but she didn’t take a “day off.” She was holed up with advisers to prepare for the first debate, and in the afternoon she convened a conference call with counterterrorism experts to discuss the recent attacks in New York, New Jersey and Minnesota.
66. “Crooked Hillary’s bad judgement forced her to announce that she would go to Charlotte on Saturday to grandstand. Dem pols said no way, dumb!” (Sept. 23, Twitter)
Clinton was invited by local faith leaders to come to Charlotte, but she later cancelled the visit after local officials said it would be detrimental to the situation. Trump’s claim is also somewhat undermined by his own decision to go to flood-ravaged Louisiana as a sign of hands-on leadership — even though Democratic officials there also warned against the distraction of a political visit. On the other hand, Clinton’s initial plans to visit Charlotte seem to contradict her reasons for not going to Louisiana, showing a lack of consistency by both candidates.
67. “It helped when Hillary made the statement, ‘I’m gonna put all those mines and miners out of business.’” (Sept. 23, Pittsburgh speech)
Trump is referring to a remark Clinton did make at a March town hall on CNN, but it came in context of a longer statement about helping coal miners adjust to a changing energy economy. “I’m the only candidate which has a policy about how to bring economic opportunity using clean renewable energy as the key into coal country. Because we’re going to put a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business, right?”
68. “The platform produced by Hillary Clinton’s party this year also calls for a price on carbon. That’s just political speak for a massive new tax on coal and shale production.” (Sept. 23, Pittsburgh speech)
Trump is correct that the Democratic Party Platform calls for a tax on carbon emissions, but Clinton has kept her distance from it, instead proposing other methods to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. It’s unclear whether that tax would be “massive,” as Trump claims.
69. “Those peddling the narrative of cops as a racist force in our society and this is a narrative that is supported with a nod by my opponent — you see what she’s saying and it’s not good — share directly in the responsibility for the unrest that is afflicting our country and hurting those who have really the very least.” (Sept. 22, Chester Township, Pennsylvania, rally)
“Supported with a nod” is a difficult insinuation to prove or disprove, but here’s what Clinton said about police violence on Thursday. “Too many Black Americans have lost their lives and too many feel that their lives are disposable,” she said, according to a readout of a call with Charlotte officials. “There are good, honorable police officers serving their communities across our country, and we must all work together to mend the wounds that exist.”
TRUMP ON TRUMP
70. “Not only did I win, I got 14 million votes.” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview)
Trump received 13.3 million votes during the Republican primary.
71. “I won 42 states and [Ohio Gov. John Kasich] won one state and by the way didn’t win it by much. That was Ohio. I am right now leading in Ohio by a lot.” (Sept. 19, Fox & Friends interview)
Trump won 36 states during the primary. Kasich won Ohio by 11 points. Trump leads Clinton in Ohio by 2.2 percent in the polls, according to POLITICO’s Battleground States polling average.
72. “Even in sports, I win.” (Sept. 19, The O’Reilly Factor interview)
Trump has repeatedly been accused of cheating at golf, a charge he vehemently denies. He was also considered a good college athlete. In this clip, however, he does appear to win a point in beach volleyball.
THE POLLS
73. “I think some of the states we’re leading, like I see we’re doing great in Maine, we’re doing great in Connecticut, we’re doing great in places that normally a Republican wouldn’t do as well … Colorado has been amazing.” (Sept. 21, Sean Hannity/Fox News Town Hall)
Donald Trump is not leading in Maine, Connecticut or Colorado. In Connecticut, a solid blue state, the latest poll gave Clinton a 15-point lead and in Colorado, Clinton has led handily in most polls, despite a narrowing of late. Maine, typically a safe blue state, is also leaning toward Clinton, though polls have shown a narrower-than-expected race there.
74. “We’re doing very well in the polls, and we’re leading in many states, including the great state of Florida.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally)
A New York Times Upshot/Siena College Florida poll released that day found Clinton and Trump within the poll’s margin of error in Florida, 41 percent to 40 percent.
75. “Our people, the highest levels of enthusiasm that they’ve seen.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally)
A recent CNN/ORC poll found 33 percent of Trump’s voters identified themselves “extremely enthusiastic” about their candidate. Four years ago, 36 percent of Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s supporters told the same pollster they were extremely enthusiastic.
76-78. “I’m going to get tremendous votes from the African American community. And we’re going to get tremendous votes from the Hispanic community.” (Sept. 19, Fort Myers, Florida, rally, and similar statements at least two other times)
Clinton leads with black voters by 81.6 percentage points and with Hispanics by 33.3 percentage points, according to an average of nine recent polls compiled by Bloomberg.
79. “We’re five points up and we have great support [in Ohio].” (Sept. 21, ABC6 Interview)
Trump is referring to a pair of recent polls that show him up five points — but that only refers to his two best polls: a Fox News survey out this week and a Bloomberg poll out last week. The RealClearPolitics polling average gives Trump a narrower 2.5 percentage point edge in a four-way race, a lead he has built in recent weeks.
80. “We’re doing really great in the polls. The Bloomberg poll, we’re up 5 in Ohio. In CNN, CNN we’re up 3 in Florida. We now lead in Nevada, Iowa. We lead in North Carolina. The LA Times has us four or five points up.” (Sept. 21, Toledo, Ohio, rally)
Again, Trump is cherry-picking his best polls. The RealClearPolitics average shows the race essentially tied in Florida, though Clinton has seen more encouraging results in the past few days than Trump, including a Monmouth poll that showed her leading by five points. Trump does appear to hold leads in Nevada, Iowa and North Carolina, though his lead in North Carolina is far slimmer than in the other two states. The latest LA Times tracking poll at the time Trump made his remarks showed Trump up just 2 points on Clinton nationally.
81. “We’re up to 90 percent now, 95 percent, 92 percent with the Republicans. We’re doing very well. They’ve come back in.” (Sept. 20, Fox 8 interview)
Republicans are increasingly lining up behind Trump, but it has been uneven across swing states. In no polls does he register support from 95% of Republicans, and even 90 percent appears to be a best case scenario. Conversely, he’s polling just above 70% support from Republicans in Pennsylvania and around 80% in Wisconsin and Virginia.
82. “The foundation is really rare. It gives money to vets. It’s really been doing a good job.” (Sept. 21, ABC 6 interview)
Trump’s foundation has been the source of a series of negative revelations, largely at the hands of Washington Post reporter David Fahrenthold. He reports Trump used $258,000 in foundation money to settle a legal dispute. Trump also reportedly used charity money to buy a 6-foot-tall self-portrait. And in a long-running investigation, Fahrenthold has found no evidence to support Trump’s claim of having given tens of millions to charity.
THE MEDIA
83. “‘Irredeemable,’ that’s a terrible word that hasn’t been reported but that was a word that she used.” (Sept. 20, High Point, North Carolina, rally)
Multiple news organizations, including POLITICO, have reported that Clinton used the word “irredeemable” to describe half of Trump’s supporters.
84. “Well look, everybody understands what’s going on [at the Clinton Foundation], and it’s a whole pay for play deal … Nobody is picking it up. They’re just not picking it up.” (Sept. 21, Hannity/Fox News Town Hall)
Many, many outlets have written repeatedly about potential conflicts of interest among the Clinton Foundation, Clinton’s State Department and the Clintons’ personal wealth.
85. “The NYT wrote a story about me and women and it turned out it was a false story. We’re going to take that up with them at a later date. … The women called the office, they said, ‘We never said that about Donald Trump, we really like him.’ They quoted women and they never even said it, and it was on the front page, center fold, massive big color picture. It was disgraceful. They are so dishonest.” (Sept. 19, The O’Reilly Factor interview)
One of the many women the Times interviewed later did television interviews saying the reporters put a “negative connotation” on the comments, but she never denied making them.
86. “Lester’s a Democrat. They’re all Democrats.” (Sept. 19, The O’Reilly Factor interview)
Lester Holt, who’s moderating the first presidential debate, is a registered Republican, according to New York State records.
87. “I certainly don’t think you want Candy Crowley again. … She turned out to be wrong.” (Sept. 22, Fox & Friends interview)
Trump was referring to a dramatic moment in Candy Crowley’s moderating of the second presidential debate in 2012. President Obama said he called the Benghazi attack an act of terror the day afterward in the Rose Garden, and Mitt Romney claimed he hadn’t used the word for 14 days. “Get the transcript,” Obama said, and Crowley interjected that he was correct and Romney was mistaken. Conservatives criticized Crowley for interfering, but her live fact-check was accurate. “No acts of terror will ever shake the resolve of this great nation,” Obama said on Sept. 12 in the Rose Garden.
Patrick Reis contributed to this report.
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