Trump v Biden: Falsehoods and Errors in the Final US Presidential Debate

The events had an impact from the beginning on the final US presidential debate.

The first line of the night from US President Donald Trump on the Covid-19 deaths was false and set the tone when he and his Democratic rival Joe Biden unleashed a torrent of claims.

Trump misrepresented the reality of the pandemic in myriad and familiar ways, insisting against the obvious reality that the pandemic is coming to an end. He also boasted of “ clean ” border facilities for migrant children, ignoring the filthy conditions in which they were held in 2018.

Biden was at times selective about the coronavirus and other issues, and at one point claimed that no one under Obamacare lost private health coverage. Millions did.

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A look at how some of the statements on stage in Nashville, Tennessee, compared to the facts:

Coronavirus

TRIUMPH: “We are rounding out the turn. We are turning the corner. It goes ”.

THE FACTS: No, the coronavirus is not going away in the United States. Its coming back. New cases are increasing towards their summer peak. Deaths have also increased.

According to data as of Oct. 21 from Johns Hopkins University, the seven-day moving average for daily new cases in the U.S. increased in the past two weeks from more than 42,300 on Oct. 7 to nearly 60,000 on Oct. 21. .

In that time, the seven-day moving average of daily new deaths in the U.S. increased from 695 to 757.

TRIUMPH: “All he does is talk about closings. But forget about him. Your Democratic governors Cuomo in New York, they look at what’s happening in California, they look at Pennsylvania, North Carolina. Democrats, Democrats all. They are very closed and they are dying. ”

BIDEN: “Look at the states that are experiencing such a surge in coronavirus. They are the red states. They are the Midwest states or the Upper Midwest states. That is where the spike is occurring significantly. ”

THE FACTS: Neither is right. The coronavirus is not a red status issue or a blue status issue. It is a public health problem that affects people no matter where they live or what their policies are.

Some Republican-led states that quickly reopened saw a surge in virus cases in the summer and are still struggling to lower their transmission rates. Florida’s test positivity rate is currently about 12 percent, a level that indicates widespread transmission. South Dakota is close to 35 percent.

Democratic-led states like New York, which were hit hard in the initial wave, shut down and cut their rates of virus transmission to very low levels. But now they are seeing rebounds in certain local communities, prompting them to target new restrictions.

Nevada and Pennsylvania are two states with Democratic governors and high transmission rates of 20% and 10%, respectively, based on a 14-day trend.

TRUMP on the Covid-19 toll in the US: “As you know, 2.2 million people were expected to die, according to the model.”

THE FACTS: This was his first line in the debate and it is false. The death toll in the United States from the pandemic was not expected to be so high.

Such an extreme projection was simply a baseline if nothing was done to combat the pandemic. Doing nothing was never an option and public health authorities expected no more than 2 million deaths.

Trump often cites the number to put the reality of more than 220,000 deaths in a better light and to try to take credit for the projected mortality reduction.

In a briefing on April 1, when Trump and his officials discussed an actual projection of 100,000 to 240,000 deaths, the president held out hope to keep deaths below 100,000. “I think we are doing better than that.” He has repeatedly moved goalposts to improve massive mortality and infection figures.

Migrants

TRUMP, speaking of the children who were separated from their parents at the US-Mexico border: “They are very well cared for; They are in such clean facilities. ”

THE FACTS: Not so.

At the height of family separations in 2018, Border Patrol facilities were crammed far beyond capacity with migrants being kept in miserable conditions, according to reports from watchdogs and attorneys responsible for a federal settlement that governs how children are cared for in immigration custody. Long-term facilities for adults and children were at capacity, meaning that the administration held people at the small border stations for much longer than the 72 hours normally allowed by law.

The stations are not designed for long-term care. The children received no hot meals and the families slept on the floor on Mylar blankets. Flu and illness were rampant and hundreds of young children were kept together without proper care.

TRUMP, on immigrants who are released from custody in the US To wait for their cases to be allowed to stay: “They say they return, less than 1 percent of the people return. We have to send … the Border Patrol to find them. ”

THE FACTS: That is false. Far fewer do not show up for immigration hearings among those who are released pending their cases. According to statistics from the Justice Department, most return for their hearings.

Health care

BIDEN: “Not a single person with private insurance would lose their insurance under my plan, nor under Obamacare, they didn’t lose their insurance, unless they chose they wanted to go elsewhere.”

THE FACTS: You are wrong about Obamacare.

Then-President Barack Obama promised that if he liked his health insurance, he could keep it under his Affordable Care Act, but that’s not what happened to some.

When Obamacare went into effect in 2014, several million people lost individual health insurance plans that no longer met the minimum standards established by law. A backlash forced the White House to offer an alternative solution, but the political damage had already been done.

Health insurance is such a complicated area that almost any action can have unintended consequences.

Climate change

TRIUMPH: The Paris agreement meant that “we were going to have to spend billions of dollars … They did a disservice. They were going to take away our business. ”

THE FACTS: The Paris agreement, an international agreement that aims to halt the rise in global temperatures, is based on voluntary emission reductions. No nation was forced to do anything.

Extremists

BIDEN: “He says about the Poor Boys, the last time we were on a stage here, he said: I told them to stand down and be ready. Come on. This guy has a dog whistle as big as a fog horn. ”

THE FACTS: That is not exactly what Trump said and that is not the name of the neo-fascist group.

During the latest debate, Trump was asked if he would condemn the white supremacist groups and militias that have come forward in some protests in the United States. He said, “Give me a name,” and Biden chimed in by saying “Proud Boys,” a reference to the far-right group that has appeared at protests in the Pacific Northwest.

“Proud guys, walk away and wait,” Trump said. He did not tell them to “be prepared”, although it is debatable whether there is a material difference.

Trump’s taxes

TRUMP on your taxes: “They keep talking about $ 750, which I think is a filing fee. … Tens of millions of dollars (in income taxes) I paid up front. ” On his bank account in China: “ I was a businessman in 2013 and I closed the account in 2015. ”

THE FACTS: Trump is not being honest about his taxes.

Reporting by The New York Times, who obtained his tax records, contradicts his claims.

The IRS does not charge taxpayers a filing fee, although tax preparation services do. The $ 750 Trump paid in 2016 and 2017 in income taxes went to the federal government, not a tax preparation service.

It’s unclear what Trump is talking about in regards to prepaying his taxes, but what matters is what he ultimately owes the government. Americans often have income tax payments deducted from their paychecks. The times reported that Trump, as of 2010, claimed and received an income tax refund totaling $ 72.9 million, which was the core of an ongoing IRS audit. The times said a ruling against Trump could cost him $ 100 million or more.

Trump also didn’t close his Chinese bank account, according to Alan Garten, a lawyer for Trump’s company. He told the Times that the account remains open, although the company’s China office has been inactive since 2015.

Hunter biden

TRIUMPH: “Joe received 3.5 (million) dollars from Russia. And it came through Putin because he was close friends with the former mayor of Moscow, and she was the wife of the mayor of Moscow. … His family received $ 3.5 million. Someday you will have to explain why. ”

THE FACTS: There is no evidence for this. Trump is falsely characterizing a recent report by Republican Senator Ron Johnson, who investigated Biden’s son Hunter and his business in Ukraine.

The report does not allege that Joe Biden himself received $ 3.5 million or that Russian President Vladimir Putin had anything to do with that payment. The report also does not allege that Hunter Biden pocketed the money himself. The report says the sum went instead to an investment firm that he co-founded. Hunter Biden’s attorney has said in a statement to reporters that his client had no interest in and was not one of the founders of the firm.