Donald Trump says outrageous things. But, most
of what he says is not true. In fact, according to Politifact, fully
75% of Trump’s statements are “Mostly False”, “False” or “Pants on Fire” false,
while nothing is completely “True”:
Source: Politifact.com
Some of the most memorable statements (with the
Politifact rating where available):
- "The Mexican government ... they send the bad ones over." "The Mexican government forces many bad people into our country." (Pants on Fire)
- The unemployment rate may be as high as "42 percent." (Pants on Fire)
- "I will be the greatest jobs president that God ever created." (Unrated)
- "The birther movement was started by Hillary Clinton in 2008. She was all in!" (False)
- "Hillary Clinton was the worst Secretary of State in the history of the United States. There's never been a Secretary of State so bad as Hillary. The world blew up around us. We lost everything, including all relationships. There wasn't one good thing that came out of that administration or her being Secretary of State." (Unrated)
- John McCain… "has done nothing to help the vets." (False)
- "He's (John McCain) not a war hero. He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured, OK, I hate to tell you." (Unrated)
For the most part, Trump says whatever he
thinks, sources like Politifact report on the veracity of the statements, and
Trump’s poll numbers go up.
But here’s the thing: Trump said something the
other day that was absolutely factually correct. And that factually correct
statement created a firestorm.
What truth did Trump utter in this interview with
Bloomberg’s Stephanie Ruhle that led to the controversy?
“When you talk about George
Bush — I mean, say what you want, the World Trade Center came down during his
time.”
Since Trump said this only a day or so ago,
Politifact hasn’t had a chance to chime in. But, based on my understanding of
history, this statement is true – the World Trade Center was attacked while
George W. Bush was president (Ironically, if the statement is evaluated by
Politifact and holds up, it will be the only “True” Trump statement they’ve
rated).
After his impolitic (for a Republican candidate)
remark, here’s the interviewer's follow up:
Ruhle: “Hold on. You can't blame George Bush
for that.”
Trump: “He was president, okay? Blame him, or
don't blame him, but he was president. The World Trade Center came down during
his reign.”
So what happened? The media headlines said Trump
blamed Bush for 9/11, or at least suggested he blamed Bush. And there were the
expected responses from Republicans:
- Jeb Bush: “How pathetic for @realdonaldtrump to criticize the president for 9/11. We were attacked & my brother kept us safe.”
- George Pataki: “Another day, another outrageous outburst from @realDonaldTrump. I saw firsthand President Bush's leadership on 9/11; @realDonaldTrump Al-Qaeda is responsible for the attacks of 9/11- not President Bush”
- Rudy Giuliani: “It also came down when I was mayor, I haven’t had anyone blame me.”
- Representative Peter King: “…to blame George Bush for what happened on September 11 shows a lack of knowledge and it’s too much of a cheap shot at the president.”
Bottom line: Despite all the
pushback, Trump stated a fact -- George W. Bush was president on 9/11. He
did not “blame” Bush (although that might have been his implication). The
reporter brought up “blame” and Trump picked up on that – but still didn’t
specifically “blame” Bush.
By the way, Jeb's “he kept us safe” comment is
not new; he used it in the last Republican debate (to a fair amount of
Democratic derision). Of course, not really mentioned in any of the coverage or
discussion was that little report from August 6, 2001 entitled “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in
US”. Never mind.
