Mr. Trump’s declaration that “it was me who shattered 100% of the ISIS Caliphate” was additionally not true. A few third to a half of the territory
Mr. Trump’s declaration that “it was me who shattered 100% of the ISIS Caliphate” was additionally not true. A few third to a half of the territory previously held by the Islamic State was regained beneath Mr. Obama’s administration, in keeping with army and unbiased estimates. And officers and specialists had all the time anticipated that the marketing campaign, began in 2014, lengthy earlier than Mr. Trump took workplace, would end in pushing the extremist group out of its self-declared caliphate.
Half truths and murky accusations
Three dozen tweets from the president occupied a factual grey zone. Some had been typical examples of political spin, neither fully true nor completely mistaken.
Twice, he claimed to have banned journey from China and to have executed so “earlier than anyone thought needed” to include the unfold of the coronavirus. These had been exaggerations. The restrictions didn’t quantity to full ban. They didn’t apply to Americans or inexperienced card holders, and so they contained different exemptions. Quite a few different nations had taken related actions earlier than Mr. Trump did.
He misleadingly boasted of the USA having carried out 15 million coronavirus assessments, “by far essentially the most within the World,” and the variety of instances and deaths “happening everywhere in the Nation.” The uncooked variety of assessments, whereas correct, didn’t replicate that the USA continues to lag different nations in testing per capita. Circumstances and deaths had been reducing throughout the nation as a complete, however not in some states.
Ten tweets had been dedicated to the announcement of grants to native transit companies from the Division of Transportation. Left unsaid was that these grants have been routinely awarded for the reason that 2013 federal fiscal 12 months and within the first two years of his presidency, Mr. Trump’s proposed budgets known as for the grants to be phased out.
Different tweets had been ambiguously worded, making them troublesome to reality verify at the same time as they trace at nefarious exercise.
Mr. Trump twice mentioned that social media firms “tried”and “failed” to do one thing within the 2016 election, however by no means specified what precisely the businesses tried. (Prior to now, he has mischaracterized analysis to mount a baseless suggestion that Google “manipulated” votes.)
Maybe there’s no higher instance of how Mr. Trump trades in imprecise claims than his repeated allegations of the “biggest political crime” or scandal in historical past, dedicated by the Obama administration to undercut his 2016 marketing campaign and the beginning of his presidency. In 4 tweets, the president echoed this however by no means specified what that crime was. In others, he merely referred to “Obamagate.”
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