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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Q&A: The Death Penalty for Drug Trafficking?

Q&A: The Death Penalty for Drug Trafficking?

The Trump administration’s initiative to combat the opioid epidemic aims to reduce drug demand, curtail illicit drug supply and expand addiction treatment. But the aspect that garnered headlines was President Trump’s repeated emphasis on seeking the death penalty for drug traffickers. We answer several key questions on the topic.

Trump’s Amazon Attack

Trump’s Amazon Attack

In his latest attack on Amazon, President Donald Trump made some unsupported and distorted claims about the U.S. Postal Service and its relationship with the giant online retailer.

ATF Rulings on ‘Bump Stocks’

ATF Rulings on ‘Bump Stocks’

Q: Did the Obama administration legalize “bump stocks” for semiautomatic rifles?

A: No federal law explicitly addresses “bump stocks.” The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives ruled 10 times between 2008 and 2017 that certain models could not be prohibited under existing gun laws.

FactChecking Trump’s Immigration Tweets

FactChecking Trump’s Immigration Tweets

President Donald Trump fired off a flurry of immigration-related tweets beginning on Easter morning, but his messages included muddled and inaccurate claims.

Emma Stone Didn’t Commend Trump

Emma Stone Didn’t Commend Trump

Q: Did Emma Stone say, “America made a great choice with Donald Trump”?
A: No. There is no record of the actress ever making that comment, or others attributed to her in the same story.

Politics Roiled by Royal Wedding Rumors?

Politics Roiled by Royal Wedding Rumors?

Q: Is the White House enraged because Barack Obama, and not President Trump, was invited to the upcoming wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle?

A: The guest list has not been made public, and there’s no evidence that Obama was invited and Trump wasn’t.

Trump Takes Too Much Credit on ISIS

Trump Takes Too Much Credit on ISIS

President Trump said nearly all of the land once controlled by ISIS in Syria and Iraq has been retaken and “it all took place since our election.” But even the State Department’s senior envoy to the anti-Islamic State coalition said in December that half of the ISIS caliphate was recaptured under Trump’s leadership.

Oh, SNAP! Misleading Claims on Benefit Enrollment

Oh, SNAP! Misleading Claims on Benefit Enrollment

Q: Did “two million people leave the food stamp rolls in Trump’s first year”?

A: No. That’s the decline in average monthly enrollment in fiscal year 2017, including almost four months when Trump wasn’t president.

Congressional Race Scorecard

Congressional Race Scorecard

There have been eight congressional special elections since Donald Trump was inaugurated, and Republicans have won five of them. But the president spun that into a 5-0 record “up until last week” in a speech at an NRCC dinner.