On Thursday, he began pushing a new birther lie about sen. Kamala Harris, who, if elected, would be the first Black and Asian American vice president.
Trump’s outrageous nonsense about Harris was part of a self-described “news conference” Thursday that he used in large part to campaign against his Democratic election opponents. Trump also made a series of false claims about former Vice President Joe Biden, Democrats wider, and, again, about mail-in-vote.
Trump was told on claims on “social media” that Harris may not be fit to serve as president and vice president. He was then asked if he could definitely say that she met the requirements.
Trump said, “I heard today that she does not meet the requirements.” He referred to a lawyer who cited the problem in the Newsweek article, Chapman University professor John Eastman, as “very highly qualified.”
Trump then said he had “no idea” if it was true that Harris did not meet the requirements. He then asked the reporter if she said Harris was not eligible because Harris “was not born in this country.”
Facts first: Harris was born in Oakland, California. Therefore, as a natural citizen, she meets the requirements of the Constitution to serve as Vice President. There is no serious question about this.
Trump marked the beginning of his news conference by slandering Bams. Here’s a look at the facts surrounding some of those attacks.
Prayers and pandemic plans
Trump claimed he had already done everything Biden called on him to do in response to the pandemic.
“In fact, a lot of the things – it’s been well reported over the last few days – every thing he said to do, every thing, we did, and we did them well.”
Facts first: It’s not true that Trump did every thing that Biden called. While there is certainly some overlap in Biden’s proposals and Trump’s actions, Biden has made a number of proposals that Trump has not implemented.
Biden also called on Trump to provide full information on the state of testing around the country, “including the number of tests completed, the results and the average waiting time for results.” The federal government does not provide this information on a systematic basis.
Praying and a mask mandate
Trump said Biden wanted to impose a federal mandate to force people to wear masks, and asked the authority of a president to do so.
“He wants the president of the United States, with the mere snare of a pen,” Trump told Biden, “order more than 300 million American citizens to wear a mask for at least three straight months.”
“I think this just happened. He thinks it’s good politics,” Trump continued.
In a speech on the coronavirus Thursday, Biden argued that “every governor should wear a mandatory mask.”
“Every American should wear a mask when they are at least outside for the next three months,” Biden also said. “It’s not about your rights, it’s about your responsibilities as an American.”
Biden was asked again if he “would actually wear masks”, he replied, “I would do anything [possible] to make it necessary for people to wear masks in public. ”
Praying, immigration and the pandemic
Trump claimed that Biden’s immigration policy, which Trump described as “ridiculously open borders”, would be “allowing the pandemic to infiltrate any American community.”
Praying and the press
The president, who has taken questions from the press every evening this week, criticized Biden for claiming to do the opposite.
“He refuses to take questions. He never takes questions,” Trump said. “I take questions, he never asks questions. And you ask what happens because they are not so difficult. Some may be annoying, but they are not so difficult.”
Prayers and schools
Trump also accused Biden of wanting to close schools and “establish society” by a federal decision.
About Biden, Trump said, “he wants to close our economy, close our schools and stop society. And he wants it done by a federal decision.”
Trump continued to play football around vote-related conspiracies.
Democrats, schools and the election
Trump claimed that Democrats are trying to “keep people away from the polls” by keeping schools closed.
“Some people say they do not want – the Democrats do not want to – open schools, because that’s where you have a lot of polling stations, and if you close a school, you can not very easily have polling stations at the school,” he said.
He concluded: “Maybe we can show that as a fact.”
Facts first: This is a conspiracy theory for which there is simply no evidence. (With his “maybe” line, Trump seems to be implicitly suggesting that he is not currently able to prove it.)
Email polling station origins
The president claimed that post offices received millions of votes and “no one knows where.”
Trump has also reiterated a number of falsifications he has made in the past, including allegations that:
- All children treat coronavirus really well. (Some children have died of coronavirus or come with an early and severe associated disease, but in general children are less likely to develop severe symptoms than adults.)
- Voting is good, while universal post-voting is very bad. (While there may be some differences in the methods used to implement the two, experts say they are largely the same and are both safe ways to vote.)
- There were fraudulent ballots in Democratic primary New York won by rep. Carolyn Maloney. (There is no evidence of fraud in this race, although there has been a legal dispute over other voting issues, such as missing signatures and late postmarks.)
- Foreign countries can easily cast e-mail votes. (Experts say this is simply not true due to different voting security measures. Furthermore, each state has its own system and each district has a unique set of candidates.)
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