Truth Meter: Third US Presidential Debate
The third presidential debate had both candidates making serious, and sometimes bizarre, claims about each other or about American politics in general. Well, we’ve taken the time to actually analyse these claims. So here is your comprehensive third presidential debate Truth Meter.
TRUMP: “Something happened recently where Justice Ginsburg made some very, very inappropriate statements toward me and toward a tremendous number of people, many, many millions of people that I represent. And she was forced to apologize.”
TRUE.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg called Trump a “faker”. After receiving criticisms from both the left and right, she apologised and said she regretted making her comments.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/12/politics/justice-ruth-bader-ginsburg-donald-trump-faker/
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/ruth-bader-ginsburg-donald-trump-apology-2016-7
CLINTON: Well, first of all, I support the Second Amendment…I understand and respect the tradition of gun ownership. It goes back to the founding of our country.
FALSE.
She does not support the Second Amendment. Her response to the SCOTUS decision to overturn a Washington gun ban was “…the Supreme Court is wrong against the Second Amendment”. This was the SCOTUS decision to uphold the individual right to bear arms. And she was critical of that.
CLINTON: “…we have 33 000 people a year who die from guns.”
PARTIALLY TRUE.
She is using 2013 data. In 2013, there were 11 208 homicides associated with guns and 505 accidents related to firearms. In 2014, there were 33 599 gun deaths. But this includes suicides, accidents and law-enforcement gun use. If suicides were removed, there were 12 265 deaths related to firearms.
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr64/nvsr64_02.pdf
TRUMP: “In Chicago, which has the toughest gun laws in the United States, probably you could say by far, they have more gun violence than any other city. So we have the toughest laws, and you have tremendous gun violence.”
MOSTLY TRUE.
Chicago’s gun laws could be called one of the toughest in the US, but not the toughest. Chicago, however, is also considered to be the most dangerous city in America.
http://ijr.com/2014/09/178770-americans-asked-dangerous-city-winner-probably-isnt-surprise/
CLINTON: “…Planned Parenthood, which, of course, provides all kinds of cancer screenings and other benefits for women in our country.”
PARTIALLY TRUE.
It does provide PAP tests and HPV tests for cervical cancer. But it does not provide breast cancer screenings, instead sending patients to other licensed institutions to get mammograms.
CLINTON: “Donald has said he’s in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood. He even supported shutting the government down to defund Planned Parenthood.”
TRUE.
Donald explicitly stated that he will defund Planned Parenthood and shut down the government
CLINTON: “And, indeed, he said women should be punished, that there should be some form of punishment for women who obtain abortions.”
PARTIALLY TRUE
This is a very complicated topic, as Trump indeed said that there should be “some sort of punishment” for women. However, he later clarified this statement by saying that he meant women punish themselves, and that the actual punishment should be given to the institutions who carry out and facilitate abortions.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/31/us/politics/donald-trump-abortion.html
http://time.com/4340358/donald-trump-women-abortions-punish/
TRUMP: “…many of the problems caused by Hillary Clinton and by Barack Obama. All of the problems — the single biggest problem is heroin that pours across our southern border”.
TRUE
President Obama and Secretary Clinton were responsible for the jump in the number of illegal immigrants that entered the country, along with the increase of the amount of drugs coming in from Mexico. Obama’s policies have resulted in American communities being flooded with illegal immigrants and dangerous drugs, despite his promise to deport illegal aliens.
http://www.bpunion.org/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/1844-nbpc-statement-on-hillary-clinton-s-reckless-immigration-policies
CLINTON: “We have 11 million undocumented people. They have 4 million American citizen children, 15 million people”.
TRUE
According to the Pew Research Centre, there were 11.1 million undocumented immigrants in the United States. This increases to a total of 15.7 million people when including children.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/09/20/5-facts-about-illegal-immigration-in-the-u-s/
TRUMP: “Hillary Clinton wanted the wall. Hillary Clinton fought for the wall in 2006 or thereabouts. Now, she never gets anything done, so naturally the wall wasn’t built. But Hillary Clinton wanted the wall.”
TRUE
Hillary did want a 700 mile wall in the Southern Border in a policy known as the Secure Fence Act of 2006. Trump is absolutely correct. In fact, Clinton’s immigration policy was very similar to the current policy held by Donald.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDvEgV8AzP4
CLINTON: “There are some limited places where that was appropriate. There also is necessarily going to be new technology and how best to deploy that”.
FALSE.
See above.
CLINTON: But it is clear, when you look at what Donald has been proposing, he started his campaign bashing immigrants, calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals and drug dealers, that he has a very different view about what we should do to deal with immigrants.
FALSE.
Donald did not bash immigrants or call Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals and drug dealers. He used those terms to describe illegal Mexican migrants.
TRUMP: “President Obama has moved millions of people out. Nobody knows about it, nobody talks about it. But under Obama, millions of people have been moved out of this country. They’ve been deported. She doesn’t want to say that, but that’s what’s happened, and that’s what happened big league”.
TRUE
Under President Obama, 2.5 million people were deported from the United States since 2009.
http://www.seattletimes.com/business/ap-fact-check-trump-right-that-obama-has-deported-millions/
CLINTON: After being told by Chris Wallace that email releases of her speeches by Wikileaks showed that she supported open borders, she said, “Well, if you went on to read the rest of the sentence, I was talking about energy”.
FALSE
She did support open borders, but used energy as a supplement. It’s clear that her support for open borders wasn’t exclusively to do with energy, it simply included energy.
CLINTON: “And what’s really important about WikiLeaks is that the Russian government has engaged in espionage against Americans. They have hacked American websites, American accounts of private people, of institutions. Then they have given that information to WikiLeaks for the purpose of putting it on the Internet.
This has come from the highest levels of the Russian government, clearly, from Putin himself, in an effort, as 17 of our intelligence agencies have confirmed, to influence our election…We have 17 — 17 intelligence agencies, civilian and military, who have all concluded that these espionage attacks, these cyberattacks, come from the highest levels of the Kremlin and they are designed to influence our election. I find that deeply disturbing”.
MOSTLY FALSE.
Only 2 intelligence agencies, the DNI and the DHS, have even taken part in this issue. And the statement simply states that they were “consistent with the methods and motivations of Russian-directed” activities that are “not new to Moscow”, used to interfere with elections, just as how America has done so in many countries around the world. Saying that they were “consistent” is different to saying they actually were done by Russia.
TRUMP: “We’ve spent $6 trillion. They’ve taken over the Middle East”.
TRUE.
$6.5 trillion were either misallocated or lost in 2015, as discovered by the inspector general of the Defence Department. There was a total of $6.5 trillion in adjustments made to the Army’s accounting records in order to falsely balance the books. As for Russia, Trump is right in saying that “they’ve taken over”. Russia’s influence in the Middle East is resurging, with Putin under the impression that Russia and US are practically at war already.
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-audit-army-idUSKCN10U1IG
http://foreignpolicy.com/2016/09/13/russias-middle-east-offensive/
CLINTON: “This is a person who has been very cavalier, even casual about the use of nuclear weapons. He’s… advocated more countries getting them, Japan, Korea, even Saudi Arabia. He said, well, if we have them, why don’t we use them, which I think is terrifying.”
PARTIALLY TRUE
Trump was not “cavalier” or “casual” when it comes to nuclear weapons. He has always said that he believes nuclear weapons are a last resort. However, he has said that, if nuclear weapons are used, then they have to be used in an “unpredictable” manner. He has also said it won’t matter if other countries got nuclear weapons. He has also supported Japan and South Korea going nuclear in order to decrease their reliance on the US.
http://time.com/4437089/donald-trump-nuclear-weapons-nukes/
CLINTON: “There’s about four minutes between the order being given and the people responsible for launching nuclear weapons to do so.”
UNCERTAIN
The real problem here is that only a few minutes ago she was calling Trump “casual” with nuclear weapons, but here she is telling the world America’s response time when the President gives the order. Many, including Politico, have criticised this as a careless statement that puts national security at risk.
http://www.dailywire.com/news/10086/watch-hillary-reveals-americas-nuclear-response-chase-stephens#
CLINTON: “That is a plan that has been analyzed by independent experts which said that it could produce 10 million new jobs. By contrast, Donald’s plan has been analyzed to conclude it might lose 3.5 million jobs.”
TRUE
Moody’s Analytics has estimated that Hillary’s economic plans will create 10.4 million new jobs, while Trump’s may cost America 3.5 million. However, it has to be emphasised that the report states that Clinton’s plans would only create 3.2 million in addition to the 7.2 million already expected for the economy.
http://nypost.com/2016/08/13/why-would-anyone-believe-hillarys-promise-of-10-million-jobs/
http://money.cnn.com/2016/07/29/news/economy/hillary-clinton-economy-jobs-moodys/
http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/21/news/economy/donald-trump-economy-jobs/
TRUMP: “Well, first of all, before I start on my plan, her plan is going to raise taxes and even double your taxes…We will have a massive, massive tax increase under Hillary Clinton’s plan.”
PARTIALLY TRUE
There indeed will be dramatic increases in tax under Hillary. However, it is unlikely they would double. Donald may be talking about how she will increase taxes on estates over $10 million to 50%, and those over $50 million to 55%. According to the Tax Policy Centre, the top 1% will pay ¾ of all tax.
http://www.atr.org/full-list-hillary-s-planned-tax-hikes
http://taxfoundation.org/article/details-and-analysis-hillary-clinton-s-tax-proposals-october-2016
TRUMP: “Since I did this — this was a year ago — all of a sudden, they’re paying. And I’ve been given a lot — a lot of credit for it. All of a sudden, they’re starting to pay up.”
UNCERTAIN
TRUMP: “Our jobs are being taken out by the deal that her husband signed, NAFTA, one of the worst deals ever. Our jobs are being sucked out of our economy.”
MOSTLY TRUE.
The Economic Policy Institute has estimated a 2.4 million reduction in manufacturing jobs in America. The Wharton Business School has found that there was an 11.1% decrease in car manufacturing jobs in the US. However, the Heritage Foundation reports that there was an increase of 1 million jobs, although this is not restricted to manufacturing.
http://heavy.com/news/2016/10/nafta-cost-american-jobs-donald-trump-hillary-clinton-debate/
TRUMP: “…right now, our country is dying at 1 percent GDP.”
FALSE.
US GDP growth is 2.2%.
CLINTON: “I also will not add a penny to the debt. I have costed out what I’m going to do. He will, through his massive tax cuts, add $20 trillion to the debt.”
FALSE
Her plan will increase the national public debt from $14 trillion to $23 trillion. That’s a 64% increase.
CLINTON: Trump “…will, through his massive tax cuts, add $20 trillion to the debt.”
FALSE
He won’t double the debt, but he will add $6.8 trillion to it according to the American Action Forum.
CLINTON: “When my husband was president, we went from a $300 billion deficit to a $200 billion surplus and we were actually on the path to eliminating the national debt. When President Obama came into office, he inherited the worst economic disaster since the Great Depression. He has cut the deficit by two-thirds.”
Bill did oversee a $198 billion surplus, supplemented by decreased government spending. As for Obama, this is simply not true.
http://dailycaller.com/2016/10/19/clinton-tries-to-say-obama-cut-the-deficit-he-didnt/
CLINTON: “Well, first, let me say, number one, when I saw the final agreement for TPP, I said I was against it. It didn’t meet my test. I’ve had the same test. Does it create jobs, raise incomes, and further our national security? I’m against it now. I’ll be against it after the election. I’ll be against it when I’m president.”
TRUE.
She did not agree with the final agreement because “it didn’t meet my standards”. She did support it at first, but changed her mind at the end.
http://edition.cnn.com/2016/07/27/politics/tpp-what-you-need-to-know/
CLINTON: “There’s only one of us on this stage who’s actually shipped jobs to Mexico, because that’s Donald. He’s shipped jobs to 12 countries, including Mexico.”
TRUE.
He actually did this.
CLINTON: “And, you know, one of the biggest problems we have with China is the illegal dumping of steel and aluminum into our markets. I have fought against that as a senator. I’ve stood up against it as secretary of state.”
TRUE
This is something addressed by both Clinton and Trump. China’s aluminium is illegally subsidised by the government, however this resulted in the Commerce Department importing tariffs on Chinese aluminiums. However, a large Chinese company “re-routed” its aluminium exports to the US by sending them through Mexico in order to avoid tariffs.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-09-10/exposing-how-china-cheats-trade-aluminum-industry
CLINTON: “Donald has bought Chinese steel and aluminum. In fact, the Trump Hotel right here in Las Vegas was made with Chinese steel.”
TRUE
And Trump did not deny it. He did say that the American government allowed this to take place, and blamed Hillary for not taking care of this in the first place: “if you say that I use steel or I use something else, I — make it impossible for me to do that. I wouldn’t mind”. After all, an anti-welfare Libertarian may still be a welfare recipient, but only does so because it exists in the first place.
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20161019/downtown/trump-chinese-steel-chicago-tower-hillary-clinton
TRUMP: “Just like when you ran the State Department, $6 billion was missing. How do you miss $6 billion? You ran the State Department, $6 billion was either stolen. They don’t know. It’s gone, $6 billion. If you become president, this country is going to be in some mess. Believe me.”
PARTIALLY TRUE.
The alert said, ““more than $6 billion in which contract files were incomplete or could not be located at all”. The alert also said that this could result in “fraud” by “corrupt individuals”, and “illicit behaviour”.
CLINTON: “He was getting sued by the Justice Department for racial discrimination in his apartment buildings.”
TRUE
He was getting sued, however it is not clear whether he was guilty. In fact, his lawyer counter-sued the Justice Department.
CLINTON: “He insulted a former Miss Universe, Alicia Machado, called her an eating machine.”
PARTIALLY TRUE
He allegedly called her an eating machine. However it’s hardly an insult to criticise a supermodel for excessive eating. Also, Trump was being very generous and kind to Machado in an interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpXsAoXZIMg
TRUMP: “I started with a $1 million loan. I agree with that. It’s a $1 million loan. But I built a phenomenal company.”
TRUE
And as a billionaire, $1 million is understandably small in comparison to his current wealth.
http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trump-small-million-dollar-loan/?r=AU&IR=T
TRUMP: “She gave us ISIS, because her and Obama created this huge vacuum, and a small group came out of that huge vacuum because when — we should never have been in Iraq, but once we were there, we should have never got out the way they wanted to get out. She gave us ISIS as sure as you are sitting there.”
TRUE
Obama and Clinton not only left the power vacuum, they actively supported terrorist groups in order to take down Asad.
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/08/12/fact-check-obama-hillary-founders-isis-bet/
TRUMP: “Well, first of all, those stories have been largely debunked. Those people — I don’t know those people.”
TRUE
This was in reference to the women who accused Trump of sexually assaulting them. This has been debunked. In fact Jennifer Leeds’ accusation was actually debunked by a witness who sat directly opposite her and Trump in the Boeing “707” (An aircraft that didn’t even exist back then).
https://theunshackled.net/rundown/how-the-media-is-using-convenient-lies-to-take-down-trump/
TRUMP: “She’s the one and Obama that caused the violence. They hired people — they paid them $1,500, and they’re on tape saying be violent, cause fights, do bad things.”
MOSTLY TRUE
The Clinton campaign did cause violence. However, it is uncertain whether Obama contributed. Oh and the video is real as well.
TRUMP: “But I will tell you what isn’t fictionalized are her e-mails, where she destroyed 33,000 e-mails criminally, criminally, after getting a subpoena from the United States Congress.”
TRUE
TRUMP: “It’s a criminal enterprise. Saudi Arabia giving $25 million, Qatar, all of these countries. You talk about women and women’s rights? So these are people that push gays off business — off buildings. These are people that kill women and treat women horribly. And yet you take their money.”
TRUE.
This is now common knowledge.
TRUMP: “If you look — excuse me, Chris — if you look at your voter rolls, you will see millions of people that are registered to vote — millions, this isn’t coming from me — this is coming from Pew Report and other places — millions of people that are registered to vote that shouldn’t be registered to vote.”
TRUE
A Pew Report stated that about 24 million voter registrations were either invalid or inaccurate. It also said that 1.8 million of those registered are dead, while 2.75 million have registrations in more than one state. But it’s interesting how FactCheck.org and the LA Times have said Trump is using this information incorrectly. The report clearly states that there are “millions of people that are registered to vote that shouldn’t be registered to vote”.
TRUMP: “I think what the FBI did and what the Department of Justice did, including meeting with her husband, the attorney general, in the back of an airplane on the tarmac in Arizona, I think it’s disgraceful. I think it’s a disgrace.”
TRUE
Attorney general Loretta Lynch did in fact meet with Bill Clinton in her private jet in Phoenix. FBI agents working on Clinton’s email scandal had to sign a special form to keep everything confidential, which has never been done before.
http://nypost.com/2016/07/12/fbi-agents-signed-nda-for-matters-involving-hillarys-emails/
TRUMP: “Let me tell you, Mosul is so sad. We had Mosul. But when she left, when she took everybody out, we lost Mosul. Now we’re fighting again to get Mosul…But you know who the big winner in Mosul is going to be after we eventually get it? And the only reason they did it is because she’s running for the office of president and they want to look tough. They want to look good.”
UNCERTAIN
Many experts have said that Obama wanted Mosul freed for political reasons. However, other experts believe that the attack was being planned for years. His assertions may have a hint of truth.
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/military/the-intel/sd-me-trump-mosul-20161020-htmlstory.html
Overall, Clinton did make some well-justified and evidence-backed claims, despite many others being false. A similar thing applies to Trump. But according to our Truth Meter, Trump is the winner of the debate. The mainstream media is not saying this, but that’s because the mainstream media is using inaccurate biased information in favour of Hillary, who we all know colludes with the mainstream media.
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