By Douglas V. Gibbs
Author, Speaker, Instructor, Radio Host
Either she’s an idiot, a conniving liar, or not very well informed.
Kamala Harris was full of lies during the 2020 Vice Presidential Debate. Let’s go over them.
► Lie: 210,000 dead people in our country in just the last several months (due to COVID-19).
Truth: CDC admitted numbers are being padded and that actually only 9,210 have died due to COVID-19 alone.
► Lie: Frontline workers that have been treated like sacrificial workers?
► Lie: Over 30 million people filed for unemployment during the last month.
Truth: Department of Labor reports about between 837,000 and 879,000 new initial claims each of the weeks September, which adds up to less than 4 million new claims for the month. The report further explains the total number of people claiming benefits in all programs for the week ending September 12 was 26,529,810, an increase of 484,856 from the previous week. It is also likely that a considerable amount of those who are on unemployment are more likely as a result of shut-down orders by Democrat Governors in Blue States than any action taken by the Trump administration.
► Lie: In January the Trump administration knew the dangers of the coronavirus and did not tell the American Public…imagine if you knew on January 28th? … they knew and they covered it up.
Truth: January 3: CDC Director Robert Redfield sent an email to the director of the Chinese CDC, George Gao, formally offering to send U.S. experts to China to investigate the coronavirus.
January 5: CDC Director Redfield sent another email to the Chinese CDC Director, George Gao, formally offering to send U.S. experts to China to investigate the coronavirus outbreak,
January 6: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a level I travel notice for Wuhan, China due to the spreading coronavirus.
January 7: The CDC established a coronavirus incident management system to better share and respond to information about the virus.
January 11: The CDC updated a Level 1 travel health notice for Wuhan, China.
January 17: The CDC began implementing public health entry screening at the 3 U.S. airports that received the most travelers from Wuhan – San Francisco, New York JFK, and Los Angeles.
January 20: Dr. Fauci announces the National Institutes of Health is already working on the development of a vaccine for the coronavirus.
January 21: The CDC activated its emergency operations center to provide ongoing support to the coronavirus response.
January 23: The CDC sought a “special emergency authorization” from the FDA to allow states to use its newly developed coronavirus test.
January 27: President Trump tweeted that he made an offer to President Xi Jinping to send experts to China to investigate the coronavirus outbreak.
January 27: The CDC issued a level III travel health notice urging Americans to avoid all nonessential travel to China due to the coronavirus.
January 27: The White House Coronavirus Task Force started meeting to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus and provide updates to the President.
January 29: The White House announced the formation of the Coronavirus Task Force to help monitor and contain the spread of the virus and provide updates to the President.
January 31: The Trump Administration: Declared the coronavirus a public health emergency.
Announced Chinese travel restrictions.
Suspended entry into the United States for foreign nationals who pose a risk of transmitting the coronavirus.
► Lie: The President said it [the coronavirus] was a hoax.
Truth: Even the Associated Press indicated that the Biden Camp claiming Trump said the coronavirus was a hoax was not true. He was calling their politicization of it their “latest hoax.”
► Lie: “You know this administration took the word ‘science’ off the website?”
Truth: The word “science” was not scrubbed from U.S. government websites by the Trump Administration, and that fact was even confirmed as not true by liberal left NBC News.
► Lie: They still don’t have a plan.
Truth: Trump administration’s plans regarding coronavirus began out the gate at a time the Democrats were claiming the alleged virus was nothing to worry about.
► Lie: Donald Trump paid $750 in taxes.
Truth: The Washington Examiner reports that “most, if not all, of the facts appear to be inaccurate” in The New York Times’ reporting regarding Trump’s taxes. The Times’ reporting also ignores that the President paid $7.4 million in federal taxes in 2017, not $750.
► Lie: [Donald Trump] passed a tax bill benefiting the top 1% and the biggest corporations of America.
Truth: Fact Check dot org explains that the claim is out of context, and not necessarily true. The plan to cut taxes wound up reducing the tax burden for just about everyone across the board. Later in the debate Harris claims they plan to only raise the taxes for people making $400,000 per year or more after Pence claimed Biden supports raising everyone’s taxes. Even if Kamala’s claim is true, and the increase of taxation will only affect the top earners, the tax burden would largely land on those who own businesses, or are high ranking persons in these corporations, who do the hiring, and who adjust prices of their products based on the company’s cost to do business. So, Biden’s plan would reduce hiring, and pass the tax on to the average workers (and newly unemployed) with higher prices of products … an economics lesson they have apparently never understood.
► Lie: Trump’s tax cuts led to a two trillion dollar deficit.
Truth: After the tax plan, because of the growing economy as a result of the tax cuts, federal tax revenue increased. According to the Institute for Policy Innovation, “federal revenue has consistently increased in the years after the Trump tax cuts. Despite the enormous tax cut, federal revenue increased by $10 billion in 2018, by $130 billion in 2019, and was projected to grow by even more in 2020 before the Covid-19 pandemic and its economic effects.”
► Lie: Joe Biden will only raise taxes on those who make more than $400,000 per year.
Truth: The Tax Foundation concluded Biden’s plan would lead to higher taxes “across all income groups.”
► Lie: Trump’s investment in infrastructure never happened.
Truth: President Trump released an infrastructure plan more than two years ago. Congress, specifically the Democrats in the House of Representatives, have blocked his call to invest in our infrastructure. In February 2018, President Trump unveiled a plan to spur $1.5 trillion in new infrastructure spending. The President included his infrastructure plan in both his FY 2019 and his FY 2020 budgets.
► Lie: Trump’s tax plan led American companies to go offshore to do their business.
Truth: Common sense indicates that if they got the tax breaks Harris claims the big corporations got, they wouldn’t take their businesses off shore. They’d stay where the tax breaks favor them. Therefore, without even having to go very deep, it is obvious her statement contradicts earlier statements. That said, in 2012 the Washington Post was very critical of the Obama administration for the number of jobs under his watch going overseas. During the Trump presidency not only has Trump brought back jobs from overseas, a list that includes some very high-profile companies, but by March of 2019 the boost of manufacturing jobs in the U.S. had leaped 399%.
► Lie: Joe Biden will not end fracking.
► Lie: Affordable Care Act brought health care to over 20 million Americans.
Truth: According to the Census Bureau, the number of uninsured Americans has been on the rise since the creation of the Affordable Care Act.
► Lie: Trump is working to take away protection for those with pre-existing conditions.
Truth: President Trump has signed an executive order designed to, in addition to other things, protect those with pre-existing conditions. President Trump has made protecting “all pre-existing conditions” a key point in his second term agenda.
► Lie: The West Coast of the United States is burning, the East Coast is being battered by storms, Iowa crops destroyed because of floods, Joe believes in science (in discussion about Climate Change) … “an existential threat to us as human beings.”
Truth: Fires in west largely due to poor forest management. Science has shown that the number of hurricanes and the severity of the storms has not increased. University of Newcastle’s (UON) fresh research found further evidence to support the notion that severe flooding events occur cyclically, challenging the widely approved assumption that floods occur randomly, or that any change in flooding could be due to the notion of man-made climate change.
► Lie: “The Vice President earlier referred to what he thinks is an accomplishment that the president’s trade war with China. He lost that trade war. You lost it.”
Truth: One of the things Americans appreciate about President Trump is that he stands firm against those who would stand against American Liberty and American Prosperity. China is one such adversary. Therefore, President Trump has confronted China’s unfair trade practices. His administration has “successfully used tariffs to persuade China to sign a Phase One Trade Agreement that secured significant protections for American workers and businesses.” In addition to that, he got the Chinese communists to purchase an additional $32 billion in U.S. farm goods over the next two years.
► Lie: America lost 300,000 manufacturing jobs because of Trump’s trade war with China.
Truth: As of two years ago, according to Forbes, manufacturing jobs in the U.S. has increased ten times what it was during the Obama administration, thanks to Trump’s policies. Numbers have not boomed so loudly since then, but that is largely due to Democrat policies by States regarding the coronavirus scamdemic.
► Lie: The Obama-Biden Administration created within the White House an office that basically was responsible for monitoring pandemics. They [Trump] got rid of it
Truth: Multiple sources have claimed this is not true; Former NSC Senior Director Tim Morrison, Former NSC staffer Richard Goldberg, Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, and even the leftwing rag, USA Today.
► Lie: “Look at the Iran nuclear deal [regarding Trump ending it] which now has put us in a position where we are less safe because they are building up what might end up being a significant nuclear arsenal.”
Truth: Actually, the deal was designed to make it easier for Iran to achieve a nuclear arsenal. By ending the deal and increasing sanctions on Iran which has adversely affected their economy, Trump has helped quell the danger that Iran once posed during the Obama administration.
► Lie: Trump referred to severe head injuries suffered by military personnel as simply “headaches”.
Truth: President Trump was simply referring to what he had heard in a report. He said, “I heard that they had headaches and a couple of other things, but I would say, and I can report, it is not very serious.” If he had been misinformed, that is not the President downplaying the head injuries suffered by military personnel. Reports later confirmed that at least 11 U.S. soldiers had been airlifted from Iraq to medical centers in Germany and Kuwait for further evaluation and treatment of possible traumatic brain injuries from the rocket attack. When later asked about his “headaches” response in light of the new information, he stated he had been advised of the details “numerous days later,” and that regarding the severity of the injuries “you’d have to ask the Department of Defense.” Later, he stated that “No, I don’t consider them very serious injuries relative to other injuries that I’ve seen. I’ve seen what Iran has done with their roadside bombs to our troops. I’ve seen people with no legs and with no arms. I’ve seen people that were horribly, horribly injured in that area, that war. In fact, many cases those bombs [were] put there by Soleimani, who’s no longer with us.” The average person does not recognize how severe a traumatic brain injury can be because they can’t “see” it. If President Trump does underestimate the seriousness of a head trauma, he’s not alone, and the list of those who don’t give a traumatic brain injury enough credence includes a long list of medical personnel in the Veteran’s Administration system. I know this personally.
► Lie: Trump referred to our personnel in the military as “suckers and losers”.
Truth: Multiple witnesses not only state that Trump never said the “suckers and losers” remark, but that he didn’t even have a chance to visit the cemetery in question on the day he allegedly said such remark due to bad weather.
► Lie: Russia put bounties on the heads of American Troops.
Truth: Any evidence regarding the claim is based on uncorroborated evidence, which has been echoed by many persons in the federal government, including Defense Secretary Mark Esper.
► Lie: “In 1864 … Abraham Lincoln was up for re-election, and it was 27 days before the election. And a seat became open on the United States Supreme Court. Abraham Lincoln’s party was in charge not only of the White House but of the Senate. But Honest Abe said that it’s not the right thing to do.”
Truth: According to National Review: Lincoln, of course, said no such thing. He sent no nominee to the Senate in October 1864 because the Senate was out of session until December. He sent a nominee the day after the session began, and Salmon P. Chase was confirmed the same day. And Lincoln wanted to dangle the nomination before Chase and several other potential candidates because he wanted them to campaign for him. Lincoln’s priority was winning the election, which was necessary to win the war — and he filled the vacancy at the first possible instant. Kamala Harris is simply inventing history.
► Lie: Packing the Supreme Court.
Truth: While Harris and Biden have essentially dodged the question about packing the Supreme Court, and Harris tried to make it seem like it was not something she would consider during the debate, Harris in the past has indicated that she is open to the idea.
► Lie: [Trump] has refused to condemn white supremacists.
Truth: This old claim by the liberal left Democrats has been debunked repeatedly. President Trump said during the first debate, “I’m prepared to do it”. He has repeatedly and specifically denounced white supremacists and racist hate groups. He did it in 2016, he said it in August of 2017, twice. And in August of 2019 Trump specifically said, “In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America.”
► Lie: “He called Mexicans rapists and criminals.”
Truth: This same claim was made during the Vice Presidential debate in 2016, as well. Breitbart reported, back then, In his June 16, 2015 speech announcing his run for the presidency, Donald Trump said the following: When do we beat Mexico at the border? They’re laughing at us, at our stupidity. And now they are beating us economically. They are not our friend, believe me. But they’re killing us economically. The U.S. has become a dumping ground for everybody else’s problems. Thank you. It’s true, and these are the best and the finest. When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re not sending you. They’re not sending you. They’re sending people that have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.
Trump was referring to “some” of the people mixed into the population of illegal aliens crossing the border.
► Lie: He [Trump] instituted as his first act a Muslim ban.
Truth: The first list of countries on the first “travel ban” was based on a list of “countries of concern” compiled by the Obama administration. In later executive orders regarding the travel restrictions North Korea and Venezuela were added, adding to the reality that the policy was less about Islam, and more about threats to the United States.
► Lie: Regarding racists and white supremacists at Charlottesville, when asked about it, Trump said they were fine people.
Truth: This has been fact-checked and debunked a number of times. When taken into full context, he was saying that among the people in Charlottesville, while some were neo-nazis and white supremacists, among the crowds were also fine people.
► Lie: “I was the first statewide officer to institute a requirement that my agents would wear body cameras and keep them on full-time.”
Truth: As California’s Attorney General, Harris did not mandate body cameras statewide. In fact, in 2015, Harris said that she did not believe in statewide standards for police body cameras.
► Lie: Trump will resist a peaceful transition of power.
Truth: It has been the Democrats who have stood against a peaceful end to the election. Hillary Clinton told Biden not to concede, no matter what, for example. The Democrats had trouble enough accepting the results of the 2016 election, and some may say they have still not accepted those results.
► Lie: “If we use our voice, we will win, and we will not let anyone subvert our democracy with what Donald Trump has been doing, as he did on the main stage last week, he openly attempted to suppress the vote.”
Truth: Harris was likely referring to Trump’s comments regarding keeping an eye open at the polls because of his concern regarding voter fraud. These are the same Democrats who believe that Voter ID laws are also an attempt to suppress the vote (rather than guard against fraud), even though they are fine with requiring identification to be shown in order to enter Democrat Candidate townhalls, for DNC delegates to vote, or to enter and vote in labor union meetings. Trump was not trying to suppress the vote, he was indicating he wishes the election to be honest, without fraud. But, if fraud is going on, it ought to be reported.
— Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary