President-elect Donald Trump told the New York Times he had an “open mind” about climate change, but he went on to repeat some of the same false and misleading claims that have been used by those who reject mainstream climate science.
Fake news is nothing new. But bogus stories can reach more people more quickly via social media than what good old-fashioned viral emails could accomplish in years past.
House Speaker Paul Ryan falsely claimed that “because of Obamacare, Medicare is going broke.” The law actually improved Medicare’s financing, and the program isn’t going “broke.”
With the presidential election just a few days away, we offer a sampling of the misleading claims made by Donald Trump during speeches this week.
Donald Trump misleadingly touts tax cuts of 30 percent for “working people” or 35 percent for “a middle-class family with two children,” adding that Hillary Clinton “wants to raise your taxes up to the sky.” That distorts both Trump’s and Clinton’s plans.
Director James Comey’s vague announcement sparks partisan distortions.
Donald Trump claimed that a 25 percent average increase in premiums on the HealthCare.gov exchanges was a “phony number,” citing instead increases of “60, 70, 80 percent.” But Trump just as easily could have cherry-picked increases in the single digits.
In a TV ad, Donald Trump falsely claims that Hillary Clinton “handed over American uranium rights to the Russians” as part of a “pay-to-play” scheme to get “filthy rich.” Clinton did not have the authority to unilaterally approve that deal.
Donald Trump falsely claimed that “John Podesta, Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman, was quoted in WikiLeaks as saying, illegal immigrants could vote as long as they have their driver’s license.” Podesta said no such thing.
In the final presidential debate, Hillary Clinton claimed that her proposals would “not add a penny to the debt.” But a nonpartisan budget watchdog group estimates that what she has detailed thus far would add $200 billion to the debt over 10 years.