As many of us know, the 2016 Presidential campaign has been filled with lies, half truths, and misinformation from both candidates. While Donald Trump clearly take’s the cake for dishonestly with Politifact scoring just 4% of his statements as true, his opponent has had her fair share of lies and mistruths as well – albeit significantly lies outright lies than the Donald. Politifact ranked just 22% of Hillary Clinton’s statements throughout the campaign to be true. So, as you can imagine, there will likely be a number of repeat falsehoods as well as some new ones presented in tonights debate. In an effort to keep the candidates honest, we’ve put together a list of a the most boldface lies, half truths, and misinformation the candidates have presented at past appearances so you will know that they are false if you hear them tonight.
1. “Our African-American communities are absolutely in the worst shape they’ve ever been in before. Ever. Ever. Ever.” – Donald Trump
FALSE: Multiple sources have fact checked this assertion and found that in fact, African American communities are better off today than they’ve ever been in the history of our nation. In fact, some media outlets have even rightfully stated that Trump’s statement ignores the nation’s history of slavery and jim crow laws. When comparing things such as unemployment rates, poverty rates, life expectancy, educational attainment, and crime, African American communities are much better today than they’ve been throughout every previous decade.
2. Donald Trump Supports an Agenda to Privatize the Veteran’s Administration. – Hillary Clinton
Mostly False: While Donald Trump has stated that he wants to allow veterans to seek healthcare from private doctors when they they face delays at the Veteran’s Administration, he has been also been very clear that he does not want to privatize the VA. He repeated this position at NBC’s Commander in Chief Forum, saying “I never said take the VA — take the Veterans administration — private […] I wouldn’t do that, […] I do believe, when you’re waiting in line six, seven days, you should never be in a position like that. You go out, you see the (private) doctor, you get yourself taken care of.”
3. “My opponent has no child care plan.” – Donald Trump
An Outright Lie: A quick check of Hillary Clinton’s website shows clear plans posted on paid leave – not just for mothers (as Trump’s plan includes), but also for fathers and adoptive parents. Her website also lists a plan for early childhood education. When we searched the Way Back Machine to find out the earliest indexing of these pages in search engines, we find that the earliest indexing for the above mentioned pages was February 3rd and 4th of this year.
4. Donald Trump “doesn’t make a thing in America.” -Hillary Clinton
False: While many of Donald Trump’s products are made in other countries, Politifact found that in fact his water, wine, and hats are are made in the United States.
5. “Mexico will pay for the wall” along the border. – Donald Trump
FALSE: As President of the United States you do not possess the power to force leaders of other nations to do something they are not interested in doing. Donald Trump has repeated a nearly every event and campaign rally that he will make Mexico pay for his planned border wall. Shortly after Donald Trump’s plane took off from a hastily arranged meeting with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Nieto made it painfully clear that his country would not be paying for any planned border wall.
6. Hillary Clinton “wants to essentially abolish the Second Amendment.” – Donald Trump
False: In numerous instances, Hillary Clinton has stated her support for the second amendment right to bear arms. She famously stated “I believe in the Second Amendment. People have a right to bear arms. But I also believe that we can common-sensically approach this.” in a 2008 democratic debate with then Senator Barack Obama, she restated her support for gun rights again on Twitter in January of this year, and again on ABC’s This Week just the past June.
